Srinagar, August 21:

Terming Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s slogan of “peace for prosper-ity” as another hypocritical stance, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Wednesday said that State Government has, in fact, emerged as big-gest threat to the peace in the State. In a statement, PDP presi-dent Mehbooba Mufti said that the disturbing reports from Shopian and adjoining areas testify the fact that the State Government was deliberately subverting the peace and disturbing lives of the citizens. She said that a virtual reign of terror has been let loose in Shopian and it seems that deliberate attempts are being made by the state government to alienate youth under a sin-ister design to keep them away from the genuine political and development process.

“It looks like that state gov-ernment is targeting youth of rural areas under a plan to create conditions of re-sentment and anger against the system as the National Conference has done the same in Srinagar and other urban centre to reap the rich political harvest from the disturbed conditions”, she said and added that people were trying to come out of the shocks after in-cidents like Gool and Ban-dipora but the government was deliberately to create disturbed situation.She said that PDP was try-ing to use its influence for the peaceful resolution of the latest situation but it seems that the government is deliberately pushing the people, especially youth, to wall under a sinister de-sign. She said that wrong handling of the situation could snowball into a more serious situation and

See Government on Pg. 11

Shopian, August 21:

Listing the path breaking initiatives taken by his Government for peace, po-litical stability and holistic development in the State, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah made a compari-son between his and PDP led Governments and said that PDP leadership galva-nized its politics by decep-tion and falsehood. He said the work done by his Gov-ernment speaks loud and clear on the ground.“They (PDP) forgot all is-sues while in power and we strived for political ad-dressing of political issues and pushing forward de-velopment on fast track”, he said and described the demand of PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayed for 40 Assembly seats to resolve Kashmir issue as a mere trick to grab public attention.“The PDP Patron never talked about resolving Kashmir issue when he was Home Minister of the Country and Chief Min-ister of the State”, Omar

Abdullah said and re-minded the people of the speech of Mufti Moham-mad Sayed made in Gan-derbal asking gun-wield-ing youth to drop guns as their representative (Mufti Mohammad Sayed) has come to talk for them. “What happened then”, Omar questioned and said that in Mufti Mohammad Sayed’s tenure the process of dialogue initiated in the Government of Dr. Farooq Abdullah between mili-tant commanders and the Government was totally sabotaged as also the re-turn of youth from across LOC under Rehabilitation Plan blocked.Chief Minister was ad-dressing a large public meeting at Ribbon Khoj-pora in Watchi Assembly

constituency of Shopian District after inaugurated 190 metres long Turkwan-gam Bridge constructed at a cost of Rs. 12.63 crore and laying foundation of 50 metres long Rs. 3.5 crore bridge at Ribbon.“It is easy to raise slogans like ‘Healing Touch’ but to act practically in this direction is something dif-ferent which is unknown to PDP leadership who only know to flare up sen-timents and exploit people by deception and false promises”, he said and drew the attention of peo-ple towards ignoring Wat-chi Constituency by its representative (Mehbooba Mufti) in the Legislative Assembly. “When they (PDP leadership) have

See Omar on Pg. 11

Srinagar, August 21:

After keeping under curfew for 12 days Au-thorities on Wednesday lifted curfew from Kisht-war but said that night curfew will be continue for precautionary mea-sures.Authorities lifted curfew from most parts of the district and people in large numbers thronged markets to buy essen-tials. Shops and busi-ness establishment’s reopened and traffic re-appeared on the roads.Meanwhile, Minister for Medical Education, Youth Services and Sports, Mr. Taj Mohi Din today convened a joint meeting of leaders of Hindu and Muslim com-munities and later led a peace march attended by members of the two com-munities.The peace meeting was held in a very cordial manner with both sides stressing for restoring peace and harmony in the district. All the is-sues raised by the lead-ers of two communities

pertaining to compensa-tion, lifting of curfew, check on anti social ele-ments etc. were resolved amicably.It may be recalled that the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah had deputed Mr. Taj Mohi ud Din to head an All Party Delegation(APD) to restore peace in the town and instill confi-dence among members of each community in

one another. The delega-tion comprised members from BJP, Congress, Na-tional Conference, Pan-thers Party, SP, CPI(M), BSP, Akali Dal etc.The delegation held hec-tic deliberations for two days with members and leaders of each commu-nity to restore peace and harmony in the town. However, early this morning the representa-tives of BJP left the del-

egation midway while as the representative of Panthers Party had left the delegation last night only. However, the APD led by Mr. Taj continued with its efforts to restore peace and communal amity and was able to get both the communities on a single table. This was followed by a peace march held in the town

See Curfew on Pg. 11

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CMYK

CMYK

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THURSDAY August 22 | 2013 | 14 Shawal 1434 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 3 | ISSUE NO: 206 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGE FOR JAMMU /DELHI/LEH 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&K

Curfew lifted from Kishtwar

http://www.zabarwantimes.com

WEATHER

TEMPERATUREMAXIMUM MINIMUMSUNSET ON(THURSDAY)SUNRISE ON (FRIDAY)

07:12 pm05:59 am

19.0 0C29.5 0C

FORECAST FOR NEXT 24 HRS:

FORECAST OF SRINAGAR:

Light rain/Thundershower would occur at isolated places over the state.

Partly cloudy sky, possibility of thundery dev. in the afternoon. Maximum & Minimum tempera-tures will be around 30°C & 18°C respectively.

UP govt should allow VHP’s yatra from Ayodhya

Dialogue the medium to solve vexed issues

7 8 10

Why extreme exercises should be avoided

Politics for public good our mission: Omar

‘Sloganeering to befool people PDP’s political agenda’

Omar Govt biggest threat to peace: Mehbooba Heartiest Congratulations

Jenab Ghulam Nabi AzadHon’ble Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare

For achieving the milestone of being declared as No. 1 Union Health Minister

of Independent India

Taj Mohi-ud-DinMinister for Medical Education & Sports

As a son of soil, you really deserve this feather in your cap

Taj leads peace march

Kar Irshad + Agencies

Tral, August 21:Dozens of houses were destroyed and crops worth lakhs of rupees damaged due to a cloud-burst in south Kashmir’s Zuistan area of Tral town on Wednesday night.Eyewitnesses told CNS that at during the dead of night a cloudburst occurred some

3 kilometres away from Zuistan at a place where shepherds and Gujjar Ba-karwal community take their cattle for grazing. “This place is locally known as ‘Nai’ and shepherds usu-ally spent their night along with their cattle. Soon after the cloudburst, flash floods submerged the entire

See Cloudburst on Pg. 11

Cloudburst, flash floods wreak havoc in Tral

Property, crops worth lakhs damaged

Omar visits Dr. Jalal’s residenceSrinagar, August 21: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah this afternoon visited the residence of Dr. Jalal to personally con-dole the demise of the renowned Cardiologist.Chief Minister stayed with the bereaved family, expressed his solidarity with it, offered Fatiha for the eternal peace to the departed soul.

Girl found hanging at home in Budgam Srinagar, August 21: A 21 years old girl (name with held) resi-dent of housing colony Ompora was found hanging at her home, in the jurisdiction of Police station Budgam. Budgam police has initiated inquest proceed-ings under section 174 CrPC in this regard.

Laborer dies in Pulwama Srinagar, August 21: A laborer lost his life when he came under a landslide while working at an excavation site in Pulwama.A 25 years old Mushtaq Ahmad Deedad son of Ghulam Nabi resident of Khalidora, Acha-gosa, Pulwama came under the slide while excavating soil in a quarry. He died on spot. The body has been retrieved and was handed over to his relatives for last rites.

Sheikh Ishfaq joins National ConferenceSrinagar, Aug 21: Prominent po-litical activist and young leader from Ganderbal Sheikh Ishfaq Ahmed Jabbar on Wednesday joined the National Conference in presence of working presi-dent of National Conference Omar Abdullah. Son of late Sheikh Abdul Jabbar a known political activist and associ-ate of Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Ishfaq joined the party along with hundreds of his supporters.

See Ishfaq on Pg. 11

10 injured in road accidents Srinagar, August 21: 10 persons were injured in different ac-cidents across the valley.Eight persons were injured when a TATA 407 passenger vehicle on way from Bijbehara to Anantnag, turned turtle near Batingoo, in the jurisdiction of Police station Bijbehara. All the injured were shifted to Hospital for treatment. Bijbehara Police has registered a case in this regard.Meanwhile, a Wagon- R bearing registration number Jk01P/ 7261 driven by Ajaz Ahmad Bhat son of Abdul Razak Bhat resident of Devar, Kupwara hit and injured a motorcyclist Zubair Ahmad Lone son of Mushtaq Ahmad Lone resident of Nawab Bazar Khumriyal Kupwara. The injured has been shifted to Sub District hospi-tal, Kupwara for treatment. Kupwara police has registered a case in this regard. In another accident, a Swift car

See Injured on Pg. 11

Kathua, August 21:

Minister of state for Fisheries, Cooperatives, Finance and Planning, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma, conducted two day extensive tour of tehsil Bil-lawar and took stock of damages caused by recent earthquake & flash floods followed by incessant rains in the region.

Dr Sharma, along with Tehsildar Billawar, AEEs of PHE, PWD and Flood Control , besides staff of revenue department visited Komla, Kaalna, Dhannu Parole, Adnota, Prangoli, Najote, Beril, Dhramini, Gurha Kalyal and Koug and on the spot inspected the severely affected areas following series of earthquake, flash floods and incessant rain.

Locals said that the houses, crops and property in the area have suffered extensive damages , while massive erosion of cultivable land and house collapses have also been wit-nessed in many areas. The Dyala Chack- Chllain road- the lifeline of the Billawar, Basohli , Bani a, which provides a shortest link to Udhampur and further to the valley has been badly dam-aged by the rain and flash flood, they added.

“The road has been washed away near Pr-angoli and Daabi and hit by landslides at many places. The Billawar- Katli and Billawar – Ma-

chedi road has also been badly affected by the landslides making the road inaccessible. The Billawar- Sukrala road also has also been badly affected by the rains and land sliding.

Dr Manohar Lal Sharma had a detailed re-view of the losses caused by the natural calamity in different areas of the tehsil. He was informed that around 10 acre of cultivable land in village komla has been washed away in land sliding. At Dhannu Parole village 40 houses of the Guj-jar and Bakkerwal were damaged whereas 30 houses of ST Basti in koug village were damaged in recent rains and floods.

At Beril over 3 kanals of cultivable land has been washed away whereas 26 families has been badly affected by the flash floods.

The minister was also apprised that Bhini Nallah embankment has been widened by the recent floods and rains posing serious threat to 45 more houses which need to be rehabilitated to permanent safer places.

Dr Manohar Lal Sharma directed the rev-enue officials to ensure early assessment of the damage caused in these areas so that affected families could be compensated timely. He add-ed that loss of cultivable land in land sliding will be compensated with new allotments.

Regarding the damaged houses (partial and

fully) in these villages Dr Sharma said the preliminary assessment has revealed that over 500 houses has been damaged in the tehsil besides partial damages to another nearly 500 houses.

The minister assured that government is keenly observing the situation and mat-ter with assessment reports will be taken up with Chief Minister and Relief and Rehabili-tation Minister for appropriate compensation to the affected peoples. He said that district and sub divisional administration has been directed to establish field units in vulnerable areas to watch and ward the situation and to communicate the people and authorities for timely action in vague of any exigency.

The minister directed SDM Billawar to pass instructions to all the officers to remain present at tehsil headquarter and not to leave the station.

Dr Sharma said 110 families have been provided with tents, ration, blankets and utensils, added that more aid will be extend-ed to all the affected families. He directed AEE PHE, PWD, PDD and Flood Control to restore the facilities in the affected area at earliest and take measures to control further damages.

Ajaz stresses on resolving issues of Pandit migrantsDoda, August 21:

To take on the spot assessment of the developmental activities in the District and to review the physical and financial achievements recorded by various de-partments under Annual District Plan 2013-14 and other Centrally sponsored flagship programmes, Divisional Commis-sioner, Jammu Mr. Shant Manu chaired a meeting of District and Sectoral Officers here today.The DDC Doda Mr. Mubarak Singh, ADDC Doda Mr. G.N Balwan, SP Doda Mr. Arif Rishu, ADC Doda Mr. Anil Koul, besides Superintending Engineer PWD (R&B) Division Doda, Superintend-ing Engineer Hydraulic Circle Doda, Chief Planning Officer Doda, and other District / Sectoral officers attended the meeting.

Underlining the need for maintaining peace and harmony, the Divisional Com-missioner appreciated the people and District Administration Doda for main-taining peace and harmony in the District.While reviewing various developmental activities, Div. Com directed the execut-ing agencies to redouble their efforts to ensure time bound completion of the projects. He also took stock of the avail-ability of Doctors and para-medical staff

in the District Hospital Doda and other Sub-District Hospitals of the District.

Regarding procurement of CT-Scan machine for the District Hospital Doda, Div. Com directed CMO Doda to take up the matter with Director Health and ensure early procurement of the ma-chine for the convenience of the people.While reviewing the implementation of Mid Day Meal and ICDS in the District, Div Commissioner directed the officers to ensure that good quality food as per rules is being provided to the children for their better and healthy growth. He asked concerned department to con-duct surprise inspection of Anganwadi Centres and Schools to check the quality of meal being provided to the children.District Development Commissioner Doda, Mr. Mubarak Singh presented a detailed account of the physical and fi-nancial achievements recorded under various sectors in the District under An-nual District Plan 2013-14.Mr. Singh ap-prised that against an approved outlay of Rs. 8709.96 lacs for the current financial year, 50 percent funds have been autho-rized against which an expenditure of Rs. 886.59 lacs has been incurred ending July 2013 which accounts to about 25.30

percent.While presenting the sector wise achievements, the DDC revealed that under PHE sector, 23 habitations with 6000 population have been targeted for supply of drinking water which. He also informed that against the target of 800 set for the current year, theEmploy-ment Department Doda has sponsored 409 cases under Jammu and Kashmir Self Employment Scheme for Transport, Services, Business and Industries, add-ing that 163 cases stands sanctioned till date.The DDC also presented a detailed account of the Centrally sponsored flag-ship programmes going on in the District. He revealed that under MGNREGA, an expenditure of Rs. 5770.159 lacs has been made till March 2013, against a total re-leased amount of Rs. 9942.370 lacs, while 16571 works were targeted under MGN-REGA in the District out of which 16509 have been completed and remaining 62 works are going on. During the current year i.e 2013-14, against a target of 24616 works, 4891 stands completed while work on 5629 is going on. It was also revealed that against a total allocation of Rs. 13856.00 lacs, an expenditure of Rs. 1219.43 lacs has been made under MGN-REGA during the current year.

Srinagar, August 21:

Minister of State for Revenue, Relief & Reha-bilitation, Mr. Ajaz Ahmad Khan today directed set-tling of all issues pertain-ing to Kashmiri Pandit mi-grants.

Chairing a review meet-ing of Relief Organisation today, the Minister urged the officers to take up the is-sues of delay in payment of salaries, seniority disputes, inter district transfers etc on priority and get them resolved immediately.

The Minister also di-rected pacing up of allot-ments in Jagti Township in favour of such genuine migrants who are living on rented accommodation. He also directed undertaking immediate repair works in the township so that the inhabitants don’t face any

difficulty.Mr. Ajaz also directed

speeding up of construc-tion and handing over of hutments at Pandit colo-nies at Vessu, Qazigund and Khanpora, Baramulla. In this connection, he asked for a joint inspection of the Baramulla site tomorrow to see for the readiness of flats.

The Minister also direct-ed early completion of flats at Vessu and in this regard stressed on close co ordi-nation between SICOP and Relief Organization.

The Minister issued instructions for making available ration in favour of migrants’ employees in Val-ley. Secretary, Revenue, Mr. Vinod Koul, Relief Commis-sioner, Mr. Rajesh Pandita, representatives from SICOP and other officers attended the meeting.

Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS Srinagar | thurSday 22 .8 .2013

Div Com visits DodaReviews pace of progress on developmental projects

Remember that it takes energy to repress and bottle up your feelings, Libra. Without realizing it you may be stuff-ing a great deal of emotion inside while trying to ignore it. The truth is that expressing these feelings - anger, happiness, fear, self-doubt - will energize and free you. The atmosphere around you will lighten up and you’ll be able to interact more openly with others.

Deep inside you know the right thing to do, Scorpio. Per-haps you just saw someone drop money on the ground and you picked it up. Do you return it or pocket it for yourself? You’re likely to feel like you have the devil on one shoulder arguing with the angel on the other. It’s important that you listen to the angel. Do what you know is right.

Your mastery of your mind and ability to stay disciplined about your goals is impressive, Sagittarius. Others recognize and appreciate your efforts much more than usual. You may be called upon to assist in some other project or someone else’s emotional drama because you have the stability re-quired to remedy the situation. Don’t downplay your talent in this area.

You may feel as if someone or something has just refor-matted your hard drive, Capricorn. Suddenly things are run-ning much more smoothly. The key now is to find the disci-pline and organization to understand this new system fully. Streamline your thoughts and be more efficient about how you use your energy. You’ll be more effective overall if you can keep from scattering your resources.

You may be forced to put your thoughts into neat little boxes that can be easily understood and processed, Aquar-ius. Your ideas are abstract and don’t always make reason-able sense. It’s OK to have a bit of mystery about things that rational minds can’t explain. Although you may feel like the goal is to arrange things in an orderly way, don’t feel like you have to do it.

This may be a difficult day in which you feel pressured to get things done, Pisces, yet there’s indecisiveness and hesita-tion lingering in your mind. Between a rock and hard place is no easy spot, but you’ll find your way out. Perhaps the thing you should do is make a move - any move. Once you get the energy flowing, the direction you need to take will be clear.

You could feel blocked, Virgo, like you’re in a trap. Per-haps your friends are influencing you into believing one thing, while your family has you trained to believe another. You wear different masks in different situations so you may have forgotten the real person underneath. Things are in conflict, and you may be forced to make important decisions. The truth is the only way to escape the trap.

There’s tremendous discipline in your way of thinking,

Aries, which is helping you advance toward your goals. Don’t expect that you will solve every problem right away. Keep in mind that you will be able to sort through issues more ef-ficiently. Once you have things sufficiently fleshed out, it will be easier to put the pieces back together.

Your thoughts may be strained, Taurus, and you could find it difficult to process things that are normally no prob-lem. Try not to force answers that don’t seem to want to come. If the information flows easily and smoothly, you will know that it’s meant for you. If you have to pull teeth in or-der to get at the truth, you may need to back off.

Your thinking may have emotional overtones that pre-vent you from seeing the truth clearly, Gemini. Do your best to tame your feelings in order to let more rational thoughts rise to the surface. There’s a stability that comes when you honor your emotions from a detached perspective instead of immediately taking action in response to how you feel. Think about this as you engage with others.

The thing you dread the most could be the very thing you need the most in your life, Cancer. You’re at a point right now when the lessons that come might be hard to swallow, but they’re necessary. Don’t try to resist what you know you must face. Approach things with courage instead of fear and you can conquer anything. Once you climb the mountain, the rest is downhill.

You may look at your orderly closet, well-organized desk, and clean bathroom and be proud, Leo. Other people may fret about suddenly having to get their lives in order, but you’re already there. Perhaps you don’t realize it because you’re such a perfectionist. Perhaps you don’t give yourself enough credit for all the work you do. Give yourself a pat on the back today.

Gurez, August 21:

Minister for Tourism, Mr. Ghulam Ahmad Mir has said that all available resources would be utilized to promote tourism in the State which is a main source of income for Jammu and Kash-mir adding that Gurez is crown of Kashmir and has opened new vistas for growth of Kashmir tourism industry.

This was stated by the Tour-ism Minister at the inaugural function of 2 day Guraz festival. He said Guraz festival was a great success and more such events would be organized in future to promote tourism in the Valley.

Minister of State for Animal Sheep Husbandry and PHE, Mr. Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, Who is also MLA of Gurez was present on the occasion.

Addressing a mammoth public gathering at Dawar, The Tourism Minister said the Gurez tourism festival is a part of the new tourism promotion strategy of the government to attract as many tourists to hitherto unknown natural places.

Expressing optimism about the fu-

ture of state with regard to tourism growth, the Tourism Minister said peace

and harmony was imperative for the multifarious development of tourism and allied sectors and the state has great days ahead. “Tourism is fastest growing

and promising sector in the world and Jammu and Kashmir has been the most

favoured tourist destination of International/ National visitors”, Mir said adding that there was a need to de-velop this lucrative industry in the state on the European pattern The 2 day-long fes-tival organized by Tourism Department with the aim to highlight the virgin tour-ism potential of Gurez in and outside the Country. During the festival days different tourist related activities car-ried out at various tourism spots with focus to highlight leisure, adventure, river and eco-tourism besides art and culture of the Valley. On the occasion, various colorful and scintillating cultural pro-grammes were presented by the theatre artists, school and college students and local artists. The main attractions of the occasion were Gurezi

Folk Dances and music, songs besides rafting, cycling, zorbing, tracking has mesmerized the audience and received applause by everyone.

Dr Manohar conducts extensive tour of earthquake, rain and flood hit areas of Billawar

Srinagar, August 21: Secretary State Vigilance Commission has issued a circular regarding improving Vigilance Administration, Increasing Transparency and cutting delays by e-payments and e-receipts by Government Organizations

The Secretary in the circular has observed that inordinate de-lays are being caused in making payments to vendors, Contrac-tors and other suppliers to the Government Organizations, Public Sector Undertakings, Societies and the Corporations. Apart from increasing the cost of procurement such delays at times lead to opportunities for corruption. Resorting to mechanism of e-pay-ments and e-receipts can be used as an effective tool to improve the transparency and efficiency in governance and to cut down on delays in making payments.

In the last few years tremendous progress has been made by the banking sector, in computerization including net-working of branches, making it possible to do e-banking by making use of facilities like Electronic Clearing System (ECS) and Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) etc. These facilities are available in most of the banks including the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Public Sector bands as well as in private banks. A large number of offices including Public Sector Undertakings are already making e-payments to vendors, contractors and employees instead of making payments by issues of cheques.The public perception in general has been that delay is more often intentionally caused in the issues and dispatch of Cheques by the accounts and finance wings of a large number of Government Organizations with ulterior motives of undue pecu-niary gains. As the e-payment facility is already available in urban centre and towns, in order to curb the above mentioned malprac-tices and to change the general perception of public, the State Vigilance commission in exercise of powers conferred on it under section 8(1) (h) of the J&K State Vigilance Commission Act, 2011 has issued instructions for compliance by all Government Depart-ments, PSUs, banks and other agencies over which the Commis-sion has jurisdiction.

Gurez crown of Kashmir, unlocked new vis-tas for promotion of tourism industry: Mir

SVC issues instructions to Govt deptts for compliance

Srinagar, August 21:

Today, on Shravan Purni-ma, the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Amarnathji concluded amid chanting of religious hymns and Pooja.

Due to rain and poor vis-ibility beyond Sonamarg, the Governor, Mr. N. N. Vohra, who is Chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board, could not reach the Holy Cave where he was going this morning along with Mr. Navin K. Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of the Board.

Expressing satisfaction over the smooth conduct of this year’s Yatra, the Governor thanked the State Govern-ment, Army, CRPF, BSF, ITBP, State Police, BSNL, the 5 Banks involved with the registration of pilgrims and all other con-cerned organizations, par-ticularly the Indian Meteoro-

logical Department, and the people of the State, for their valuable contribution to the organization of the Yatra. He lauded the close coordination which had been maintained between the Shrine Board and the Security Forces, the Civil and Police Administra-tion, all the stakeholders and local population in ensuring the smooth and peaceful con-duct of the Yatra.

Shravan Purnima, which coincides with the Raksha Bandhan, witnessed serene religious fervour with the arrival of the Holy Mace of Lord Shiva at the Holy Cave, situated at a height of 3,880 metres, after a night halt at Panjtarni. Mahant Deependra Giri, accompanied by a large number of Sadhus, carried the Holy Mace, popularly known as “Charri Mubarak”, and of-fered Pooja at the Shrine this morning.

It is pertinent to mention that for several months be-fore the commencement of the Yatra on 28th June and thereafter, throughout the duration of the pilgrimage, the Governor made a number of visits to the Yatra area, in-cluding aerial reconnaissance of the Yatra routes and visit-ing all the Camps. In the past 55 days the Chairman has been daily monitoring all im-portant aspects of the Yatra.

In a meeting held here to-day the Governor asked Mr. Navin K. Choudhary, CEO of the Shrine Board, to urgently coordinate action with the Municipal Committee Pa-halgam, and the CEOs of the Sonamarg and Pahalgam De-velopment Authorities to im-mediately launch a massive post-Yatra sanitation drive to see that the entire Yatra area is cleaned up in the next few days.

Srinagar, August 21:

Maintaining that the dialogue is the only viable medium to solve all vexed issues, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchyati Raj, Mr. Ali Mohammad Sagar has said that the people preaching the cult off violence should understand this universal fact that death and destruction have no relevance in the pres-ent day world.The Minister was addressing a huge public gathering at Suhama at Ganderbal district here today on the occasion of conver-sion of the area from municipal to the rural one, which was a long pressing demand of the people of the area.Director Rural Development Kashmir, Mir Altaf Ahmed, other senior officers of district administration and different depart-ments were present on the occasion.

The Minister said that various vexed is-sues throughout the world have been solved through the medium of dialogue only and the people preaching separatism should un-derstand this fact and come forward. He said that the State has witnessed decades of unrest, which have resulted in sufferings to the peo-

ple and it was due to the tireless efforts of the present government that the peace has been sustained and now the people are reaping the peace dividends.

“It has been a herculean effort on the part of the government to ensure the sustainment of peace in the State, in spite of so many ef-forts and mechanizations of the parties trying to push the State into chaos and confusion”, the Minister said while maintaining that the people of the State have always believed in the concept of secularism and mutual co-existence. Referring to the various initiatives undertaken by the government for ensuring the sustained development of the State, the Minister said the people are well aware of the efforts being taken for making the State as one of the model States and now certain parties in a state of frustration are trying to mislead the people by spreading lies and selling obnoxious ideas. He said in order to ensure that the youth of the State get the much needed employment opportunities, schemes like Himayat and Ud-dan have been launched by which they can be technically equipped.

Amarnathji Yatra concludes; 3.54 lakh pilgrims pay obeisance

Dialogue the medium to solve vexed issues: Sagar

Mega Lok Adalat held at Anantnag

Anantnag, August 21: A mega Lok Adalat was held at Dak Bungalow Khanabal, Anantnag under the Chairmanship of Principal District and Sessions Judge, Anantnag, Mr. Abdul Rashid Malik. The Dis-trict Development Commissioner, Anantnag Dr. Fa-rooq Ahmed Lone, Additional Deputy Commission-er Anantnag, Collector Land Acquisition Anantnag and Project Director National Highway Authority of India participated in the Lok Adalat.

Disputes with regard to acquisition of land measuring 410 kanals of village Shole Wanpora, Sursuna, Sanjigund, Vessu, Baghi Wanpoh, Cheki Wangund, Sangran Devsar and Shamsipora of dis-trict Anantnag were settled amicably in the said Lok Adalat. The awards passed in the Mega Lok Adalat were for an amount of Rs. 35 crores by enhancing the compensation in favour of the land owners.

Pertinently a high level committee comprising of Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Collector Land Acquisition Anantnag and Project Director NHIA was constituted to settle the dispute with regard to the award of compensation in the Lok Adalat.

E ++HHEAAL L HH5 ZABARWAN TIMES

THURSDAY | 22 AUG 20138 ZABARWANTIMES

Listen to your body while you workoutIf your body is clicking, cramping and whirling while you work out, stop and listen to what it has to sayCracking joints, cramps and even yawns mean much more if they happen while you're in the gym. When you're working out, the body adjusts to the change in activity level. It reacts differently to anaer-obic (short bursts of high intensity) and aerobic (low bursts of moderate intensi-ty) exercise programs and expresses them through these symptoms.Ex-perts say these are signs that should make you go 'hmmm'. Feeling giddy Dr Shivani Chowdhury Salian, an associate pro-fessor in the Department of Physiotherapy at Dr DY Patil University puts the reasons for dizziness down to drop in blood pressure, sudden change of position (sitting to standing or vice versa), drop in blood sugar or exercising at a high in-tensity. Exercise may also trigger a pre-existing con-dition such as an inner-ear disorder that causes ver-tigo. Have you forgotten

to breathe? Concentrating on a movement may make you hold your breath, lim-iting oxygen supply. Nuri Khan of Studio 5 Aerobic Centre says, "Drink water before you start. You could also be over-exercising or doing it too fast. Lack of sleep can also make you giddy."How to fix it: Check your blood pressure and get a good night's sleep. After a spell, walk around

slowly for several minutes to bring down your heart rate. Don't put your head between your knees (lower than your heart). It will af-fect your blood pressure and make you feel faint. Sip on water or an energy drink. "If your dizziness worsens, get medical at-tention. It could indicate a seizure or stroke," says Salian. You break into a yawn Yawning indicates

fatigue or high level of ex-ertion. It also reflects the brain coolingdown after high activity. Excessive yawning is what you need to pay attention to. It may be caused by a vasovagal reaction, which may in-dicate a heart problem. If you find yourself falling asleep on the treadmill or while driving, you may suffer from sleep apnea or narcolepsy.

If you are battling too hard following an extreme ex-ercise routine to get into shape, you need to rethink. While you might shed those extra kilos faster, pushing your body too far will have repurcussions. Everyone wants to be in shape and many are rigor-ously into various levels of extreme fitness activities. But these are actually caus-ing more harm than good to you, in your quest to lose weight. Says fitness expert, Jivesh Shetty, "People who want to shed weight soon or are enthusiastic about following an extreme exer-cise routine to stay fit and in form, should be cautious about the kinds of exercises they are opting for. For ex-ample, marathon running is said to cause cardiac problems." Jumping with weights and dumbbells In group classes, you are ad-vised to do the plyometrics (a type of exercise designed to produce fast and pow-erful movements) with light weights. Hopping on step-up benches, lunges and other movements in-

clude holding dumbbells or light weights strapped on your ankles. Though jumping is good to burn calories, jumping with weights on might end up in a tissue or muscle rup-ture or a ligament tear. "If you are enthusiastic about jumps, you should opt for the kettleball swing," says Althea Shah, fitness ex-pert. Dumbbell and barbell movements can be done in a more specific resis-tance training programme, where each movement is monitored by an instructor. Training on an empty stom-ach If you believe training on an empty stomach in the morning will help you burn the calories you consumed last night, then you are wrong. Says Shah, "When you wake up in the morn-ing, your glycogen levels are low in the body and though you tend to burn more calo-ries, you don't realise that there is a high probabil-ity of your body deriving calories from your muscle tissue." Have a light meal before you start your work-outs in the morning.

US scientists are challeng-ing the popular notion that we can "work up an appe-tite" with vigorous exercise, saying it actually reduces a person's motivation for food. James LeCheminant and Michael Larson, both Brigham Young University professors, measured the neural (brain cell) activity of 35 women while they viewed food images, both following a morning of ex-ercise and a morning with-out exercise. The research shows that 45 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous ex-ercise in the morning ac-tually reduces a person's motivation for food. They found their attentional response to the food pic-tures decreased after the brisk workout, the jour-nal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise reports. "This study provides evi-dence that exercise not only affects energy output, but it also may affect how people respond to food cues," LeCheminant said, according to a Brigham

statement. The study mea-sured the food motivation of 18 normal-weight wom-en and 17 clinically obese women over two separate days. On the first day, each woman briskly walked on a treadmill for 45 minutes and then, within the hour, had their brain waves mea-sured. Electrodes were at-tached to each participant's scalp and an EEG machine then measured their neural activity while they looked at 240 images - 120 of food meals on plates and 120 of flowers. The same experi-ment was conducted one week later on the same day of the week and at the same time of the morning, but omitted the exercise. Individuals also recorded their food consumption and physical activity on the experiment days. The 45-minute exercise bout not only produced lower brain responses to the food images, but also resulted in an increase in total physical activity that day, regardless of body mass index.

Regardless of bra size, age or health, many women suffer breast pain or discomfort during everyday life and exercise because their breasts are not properly supported, said a University of Wollongong academic. When Professor Julie Steele first pub-lished a scholarly review on the sci-ence of breast biomechanics, which found that breast bounce caused 50 per cent of women pain during exer-cise and daily life, postcards flooded in from around the world."It was the first time in my 30 years working on injury prevention that I've received handwritten postcards," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Professor Steele as saying. "Women from all over the world, from all walks of life, wrote to me, often with stories about their discomfort, thanking me for taking this topic seriously," she re-vealed. ost women assume supportive sports bras will be uncomfortable."But they don't have

to be," said Pro-fessor Steele, who runs Breast Re-search Australia (BRA), one of only two independent research institutes of its kind in the world.Researchers in Britain estimate that during sport, the average breast can move 21 centi-metres (about the length of a box of tissues) in a figure eight movement.Breasts don't only move up and down, they move side to side, and even in and out. Given the average breast weighs about the same as 1.2 litres of milk and is held in place by skin and Cooper's ligaments, that's a lot of bounce or slide.Professor Steele, who is the associate dean of research at the faculty of health and

behavioural sciences of Wollongong University, said there were "signifi-cant medical implications of inap-propriate breast support".Poorly adjusted bra straps can cause head-ache, backache, and numbness and tingling in the hands because the straps apply excessive pressure to nerves that cross the shoulder and innervate the hand.

The secret to age backwardsChandru Nayar, who start-ed beefing up at 50, tells Saadia S Dhailey about the secret to ageing back-wards.We are ushered into a cozy Bandra home by a help. We've come here to meet a 'muscle man' who, we heard, romances dumb-bells when people his age order for a walking stick.There's a picture in the study, where we wait for him — at first glance we think it's Sylvester Stallone. "We get that often,"says Jayavanti Na-yar. She and her husband, engineers by qualification, tutor children in Math and Technical Drawing. "Parents of our students often ask me why I have Stallone's picture framed." Well, that actually is her

husband Chandru Nayar, and clicked when he was 52.He may not be as beefed up as he was during his Mr India days, but well, the man surely doesn't look 68. Nayar sums up his own story, "Men start looking good in their 30s and 40s, but I started look good in my 50s." For an elaborate account, read on.Journey to the gymNayar, who has nicknamed himself as the 'naked nutri-tionist', for posing shirtless for innumerable pictures, says the first time he ever stepped into a gym was when he was 46. "I was an athlete in school, and also was competitive boxer, but once I started working I had no fitness regime at all," he confesses. Overtime, how-ever, Nayar remembered

his family's poor medical history. "It's like if your father had a heart attack, you will too," he muses. He said he wanted to fight his bad genes.An informed approachIn 1990, when his son went to America to study, he went with him. "There I studied nutrition and biochemistry," he tells us. This armed him with a healthy approach to ex-ercise and nutrition. "As I started eating well and exercising, muscles grew. I saw my first muscle at 50. And that felt good," he says. Watching his prog-ress, Nayar's gym mates suggested that he com-pete for Mr Bombay in the masters category (for men above 40). And he won it, as well as Mr Maharash-tra the same year. And in

1997, he represented Asia in the Asian Masters, and returned as runner-up.Colour-coded dietNayar says, "My diet thumb rule is to have as many colours on my plate as possible." He prefers to eat three fruits a day, and he chooses each of a dif-ferent colour. His meals are colourful too. "That's because every colour sig-nifies a different nutrient compound, and like this I can get most of it." He sug-gests, "Whatever vegeta-bles you have in the kitch-en — all the reds, yellow and greens — throw them in together and cook them slightly. Nayar also prefers a mixed bag of beans. "For dinner, every day 10 kinds of beans are soaked, and cooked together.

Healthy pakoras for rainy evenings There are many days- too many in fact- when we have unbearable cravings for foods that are not so healthy, and crunchy.Pakoras top this list. The weak-hearted amongst us, inevitably, give in to these sinful indulgences; feeling guilty post that is a compul-sory affair. But now you can make different types of innovative pako-ras, with different fillings, batter, seasoning and dips that still taste yum and can be healthy too "Fillings such as fruits (pineapple, litchis, raw bananas and citrus fruits), meats and vegetables (po-tatoes, onion, brinjal, zucchini, capsicum, chilies) jell well with besan. One can also make pako-ras with pulses and grains, breads and cottage cheese," informs Chef Gautam Mehrishi, corporate ex-ecutive chef at Sun n Sand. Apart from besan, one can make a bat-ter with rice flour, tempura flour (Japanese flour), mixture of flour with corn flour or can use corn flour by itself. Let's take a look! Red pumpkin bhajiya Ingredients: Grated pumpkin: 1 cup Onion: 1 large, chopped length-wise Besan flour: 4 tbsp Rice flour: 2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste: 1/2 tsp (Op-tional) Red chili powder: 1 to 1.5 tsp Curry leaves: 2 sprigs Salt to taste Oil for deep frying Method: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, chopped onions, grated pumpkin, salt, red chili pow-der, ginger garlic paste and curry leaves and mix very well. No need to add extra water at all. Heat oil to deep fry. Take a small portion of pumpkin mixture and drop them into the hot oil. Deep fry the frit-ters until golden brown and crispy

and remove from the oil. Serve on a cloudy day with a cup of hot tea. Nachni coated onion rings Ingredients: Nachni flour - 400 grams (3 cups) Corn flour - 100 gms Flour - 50 gms Black salt - T/T White pepper - T/T Oil - for frying Carbonated soda - 100 ml Method: Cut onion rings and separate them to get thick and intact rings. Prepare a batter with the three flours, seasoning and liquid car-bonated soda, adding chilledwater if required. Rest the batter for two to three minutes in a warm place, mean-while heat oil to a moderate tem-perature and then dip the onion rings individually and fry till crisp. Serve hot with mustard and honey dip. Baked pakoras Ingredients: For stuffing- potato (you can sub-stitute with any filling of your choice), salt, chopped thyme. For batter- 2 cups of besan / rice / tempura, corn flour, thyme, pep-per, salt, and olive oil Method: -Cut potato into very thin slices. -Flavour with salt and some fresh-ly chopped thyme, leave it for two minutes. -Dab them with a kitchen towel, to remove excess water. -Prepare batter with besan. -Lightly roast the besan. -Once it cools down add room tem-perature water. -Add corn flour (if two cups besan, then one cup corn flour). -Season the batter with thyme, crushed pepper and salt. -Preheat the oven at 220 degree Celsius. Line the tray with olive

oil. Dip the slices in the batter and bake in the oven for 2 minutes. They need to be golden brown in color after which you turn them and let it bake for another 1 min-ute. -Serve hot with a tomato dip. Tandoori salmon tikka Ingredients: 250 boneless, skin-on salmon filet 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 1 3" piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped Sea salt, to taste 3 tbsp. olive oil 1 tbsp. white vinegar 1 tbsp. Kashmiri red chili powder 1½ tsp. cardamom seeds 1½ tsp. garlic powder 1½ tsp. ground cloves 1½ tsp. ground ginger 2 cups plain yogurt 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro 1 tsp garam masala 1/2 small cucumber, peeled, seed-ed, and minced Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Method: Place salmon on a flat clean plat-ter and set aside. Puree garlic, gin-ger, and ¼ cup water in a blender. Using a rubber spatula, smear

garlic mixture over flesh of salm-on, along with salt, half the oil, vinegar, 1 tsp. chili powder, and half of each of the following: car-damom, garlic powder, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, and ground ginger. Toss to coat; and refrig-erate for at least 1 hour. Combine 1 cup yogurt, chilies, and remaining oil, chili pow-der, cardamom, garlic powder, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, and ground ginger in a bowl; season with salt. Pour yogurt mixture over salmon and gently mas-sage into flesh, and refrigerate for 1 more hour. Meanwhile, make the raita: In a small bowl, combine the remaining yogurt, along with the cilantro, garam masala, and cucumbers. Season with salt and pepper and sprin-kle some chili powder over the top; set raita aside. Skewer the salmon and bake in a hot tandoor until fish is crisp, lightly charred, and cooked through, 08-10 min-utes. Take the salmon out from the skewer, transfer salmon to a serving platter and serve hot with the raita sauce.

We don't really know how to breathe!

It seems, most of us don't know how to breathe — the one thing we thought we knew at birthIf you catch a cold often, or suffer from sinusitis worse than Kaa's from Jungle Book, it's possible that you are not breathing right. The Yoga Institute in Santacruz, the oldest organisation of its kind in the world has over 1,000 members, several of whom have respiratory ailments. For those who can't sign up, the institute holds fre-quent day-long workshops of which the Respiratory Workshop is popular for the kriyas, asanas and pranayam that teach you how to breathe correctly. These exercises, says in-stitute director Hansaji Yogendra, work collec-tively to up lung capacity, decrease shallow breath-ing, ease a cold and cough, and calm the mind. Here are five exercises that will work like magic.4 Ways to beat the com-mon cold- Don't sit under a fan or in a moving vehicle when your hair is wet. It will ag-gravate your sinus.- Sit in the sun for 10 min-utes with your eyes closed every day.- When eating out, drink a glass of warm water af-terwards to wash out food particles that can irritate your throat.- Cover your head when you sleep.Do what? Sit like a Yogi it's called Sukhasana

Why do itYou must start all yoga exercise sessions with this asana. It straightens the spine, slows the metabo-lism and stills the mind.How to- Sit with your legs crossed. Make sure that you've drawn your tummy in, and your spine is erect.- Rest your palms on your knees, and relax your shoulders and el-bows. Close your eyes and breathe normally.

Do what? The chewing gum bend it's called Ha-stapadasanaWhy do itIt's a complete exhalation exercise, emptying your lungs of air, before you let in a fresh batch. The best bit? It helps tone your stomach, and the forward bend towards gravity tones the back muscles.How to- Stand with your feet slightly apart, hands hang-ing by your side. Raise your arms above your head as you inhale.- Exhale for three seconds, and bend down till your hands can grip your ankles, and your head is wedged between your upper arms. Don't bend your knees.- Hold your breath and the posture for a few seconds. Come back to standing po-sition and inhale again.Do what? Let nose meet knee it's called Padmasana Yoga MudraWhy do itIt improves breathing, calms the brain, and the belly fold puts pressure on the

intestines, liver and spleen to rid you of digestive com-plaints.How to- Sit with your legs crossed, back straight. Inhale and take both hands back, holding your right wrist with your left hand.- Exhale, bend forward at the waist, and rest the fore-head on your left knee. At this point, suspend breath-ing for six seconds.- Return to the original position in three seconds while inhaling. Repeat on the right side.Do what? Stretch like a palm tree it's called Tala-sanaWhy do itIt increases lung capacity, cures chest congestion that is often a reason for back pain.How to- Stand with your feet 12 inches apart, toes parallel, chest thrown for-ward.- Inhale for two seconds, while lifting your arms to the ceiling. Join them above your head in a na-maste.- Rise on your toes while letting your body stretch as much as you can, pulling yourself upward as it were.- At the maximum position, maintain your breath for four seconds. Exhale for two seconds while lowering your arms, and heels back flat on the ground.Do what? Breathe through alternate nostrils it's called Anuloma VilomaWhy do itA natural na-sal cycle requires you to breathe equally from both nostrils, one after another.

NATION DAILY ZABARWAN TIMES

7 SRINAGARThursday, 22 August,2013

Bihar govt did not alert us about large congregation: Rail minister

Patna: The Railways on Tues-day blamed the Bihar govern-ment for the train disaster at Dha-mara Ghat in Khagaria district and said that actually 28 people died in the accident, instead of 37 put by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and nine others were in-jured.

“Probably he (Nitish Kumar) mixed up the figures of death and injured to say that 37 persons died in the mishap at Dhamara Ghat in between Saharsa and Mansi section of Samastipur division yesterday,” Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ran-jan Chowdhury told reporters at Patna airport.Chaudhury had visited the accident site past midnight last night and also met the injured in the hospital at Khagaria this morning before returning to

Delhi via Patna.Asked who is to blame for the Ra-jyarani Express mowing down the pilgrims, the min-ister put the blame on the state administration.“The local administration did not alert the Railways about

the large congregation of pilgrims for the mela (fair) at the Katayani temple so that we could have taken some measures,” Chaudhury said.“There was no proper coordination by the local administration with the Railways for making the necessary arrangement in view of the fair at the temple on the last Monday of Shrawan,” he said.

The minister said that the state government gets so much of funds from the Centre under the Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) from which it could have constructed a road to this remote place, which is non-existent now.The Bihar CM had on Monday dismissed any lapse on the part of the state administration.Kumar, who had talked to Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge immediately after the accident and was in regular touch with the Gen-eral Manager of East Central Railway (ECR) zone, Madhuresh Kumar, had said it was a matter of probe whether speed restriction was ordered considering that the day was the last Monday of Shravan and a large crowd of pilgrims was expected.

UP govt should allow VHP’s yatra from Ayodhya: Venkaiah Naidu

The Uttar Pradesh government should give permission to the VHP’s proposed yatra from Ayodhya by taking certain precaution-ary measures, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

“Let’s see what the VHP is going to do. It is a democratic country. Permission should be given and precautions can be taken. They can be given needed guidelines also. There are lot of yatras going around in the country. How do you prevent one particular community from taking out yatra?” Venkaiah asked while talk-ing to reporters.

He was responding to queries on the UP government denying permission to the VHP’s ‘Chaurasi Kosi Yatra’ (pilgrimage) proposed between August 25 and September 13.

Alleging that the Food Security Bill is only an election ploy by the Congress, he maintained that it would give “vote security” to the ruling party. “The first question Con-gress should address is, why were you sleep-

ing for the last nine-and-half years after com-ing to power in 2004? What is the reason for this delay? Congress president has launched the scheme on Tuesday even without the Bill being passed. The matter is under discussion,” he said.

Noting that the BJP is in favour of provid-ing food security in principle, he said the party would like to ensure nutritional security to the people. The government needs to take care of farming community to achieve “home grown food security,” he said.

Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee calls for street protests

Darjeeling: Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee has called for street protests from Tuesday. The protests are expected to go on till Friday. So far, the police have rounded up over 450 Morcha supporters.

GJAC had recently announced a five-day ‘Ghar Bhitra Janta (people in-side homes)’ agitation from Aug 19 in the three hill sub-divisions - Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong - of Darjeeling district in northern West Bengal.

The fresh programme has called upon the people to pour out on the streets August 20-23 in support of a Gorkhaland state to be created out of Darjeeling district and parts of Jalpai-guri district.

The government has deployed the CPRF, IRB and striking force on Na-tional Highway 31A, the lifeline of Sikkim, police sources said.

Meanwhile, the Gorkhaland agita-tion in Darjeeling was suspended for 48 hours from Tuesday after a thunder-storm swept through the hills uprooting trees and snapping electric wires and telephone cables. The thunderstorm last

night uprooted trees at many places in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong towns, civil defence sources said. Two persons were injured in the thunderstorm at Lewis Jhupri, they said. “The agitation is being suspended for two days because of the damage caused by the storm and will be resumed on August 22 or 23,” said Roshan Giri, General Secretary of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which is spearheading the movement for a separate state.

The agitation would, however, con-tinue during the day at Kalimpong, he said. In a post on social networking website Facebook, GJM President Bi-mal Gurung said that last night’s thun-derstorm had caused damage in many places in the hills, with roads blocked by uprooted trees.

Shops, markets, government of-fices, banks and post offices, however, remained closed in the hills. At the dis-trict magistrate’s office no employee was present, visiting reporters found.

Schools and colleges remained closed, except Ramakrishna Primary Teachers College where final examina-tions of the one-year course were being held. Tea planters in the hills has decided to approach the Gorkhaland Joint Action Committee, under the banner of which the agitation was now continuing, as tea stocks were piling up in the hills, said Sandeep Mukhopadhay, Adviser, Dar-jeeling Tea Planters’ Association.

The agitators has banned transporta-tion of tea and timber from the hills.

On the security front, the CPRF, IRB and striking force were deployed on Na-tional Highway 31A, the lifeline of Sik-kim, police sources said. One company of CRPF was also deployed at Sonada, a sensitive area, 18 km from Darjeeling town as a precautionary measure, the sources said.Each company of CRPF comprises 100 security personnel.

Bangalore: Body of woman recovered from her home 5

months after death

Bangalore: In a shocking case of neglect in Bangalore, the body of a 53-year-old woman has been recovered from her home nearly five months after her death. The body of Shanthi Reddy, found in a highly decomposed state, is suspected to have been lying at her posh Indranagar home for many months.

It appears none of her relatives visited her during this period. Neighbours say Shanthi was living alone and had isolated herself from her brother and his family.

Four months ago, neighbours had called the police to check about a foul smell but after a cursory check, they dismissed it as probably caused by the death of a stray animal. It was only late on Monday evening that Shanthi’s brother had tried to check on his sister and discovered the body.

A case of unnatural death has been registered and the body has been sent for a post-mortem.

India’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant a threat to China: Report

Describing the launch of India’s indig-enous aircraft carrier and Japan’s biggest war-ship since World War II as a threat to China, a report in the state-run media on Tuesday al-leged some countries are backing New Delhi to balance Beijing’s power. The launch of India’s INS Vikrant and Japan’s helicopter carrier serve as a warning for China, said an article on the state-run Global Times’ website.

“Some Chinese scholars emphasise that India has yet to grasp the key technologies of the carrier and that it will rely on other coun-tries to maintain and upgrade the carrier. But it is also a fact that many countries are support-ing India in developing advanced weaponry, not only for profit but also to balance China’s power,” said Liu Zongyi, an assistant research fellow with the Centre for Asia-Pacific Stud-ies, Shanghai Institutes for International Stud-ies, in the article.

“India is well aware of the intention of the Western countries. Some politicians and me-

dia outlets in Indian deliberately stress the role of India’s military buildup in containing China so as to please those traditional powers,” it claimed. But at the same time it said the launch of India’s home-built aircraft carrier is indeed worth celebrating, because it marks a firm stride toward the indi-genization of arms.

India\’s indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant a threat to China: Report

The triumphant launch of the hull demonstrated India’s progress in build-ing giant surface carriers, it said. “The

launch also shows that the Indian government has had preliminary success in localising arms production. The government has invested bil-lions of dollars in the construction, research and development of domestic shipbuilding,” it said.Together with the launch of domestically built nuclear submarine INS Arihant, it will help boost the ruling Congress Party’s elec-tion chances in 2014. “They do mark India’s achievements in localising arms production,” it said. While China’s rise is mainly an eco-nomic one, India’s emergence is more promi-nent in the military sphere, it said quoting Stockholm International Peace Research Insti-tute report stating that India has been the larg-est weapons importer ever since 2011.“The so-called external threats may serve as an excuse for engaging in military expansion as well as corruption, which has been endemic in India’s scandal-ridden weaponry development in re-cent years,” it said.

JD(U) blames Congress, BJP for Parliament impasse

NEW DELHI: Blaming Congress and BJP for the impasse in Parliament, JD (U) today made a strong pitch for smooth functioning of both Houses, asking the two national parties to sit together and resolve the deadlock.

“Parliament is not running because of Congress and BJP. Other parties raised their issues for a while but they do not want to block the functioning of Parliament. The two national parties are not serious to run the House.

“Instead of meeting everybody else, what is really required is that the two parties sit together and resolve the issue,” party president Sharad Yadav said.

Yadav’s comments came soon after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath had a telephonic conversation with him on the issue of Parliament’s func-tioning, as the disruptions in Lok Sabha has taken a toll on the government’s in-tent to pass the Food Security bill.

During the talk, Nath is learnt to have said that there is a view that if Parliament

does not run, it’s better to adjourn it sine die.

Sources said that Government has in-dicated that it is not in a mood to accept the BJP’s demand for a reply by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of the missing files of coal block alloca-tion. Yadav wondered “what is strategy of the BJP on this matter? In Rajya Sabha, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal made a statement. In Lok Sabha, they (BJP) want a statement by the Prime Minister.

The last session was washed as the BJP was rigid that the Prime Minis-ter should resign. This time they are insisting for a reply by him.

“Coal Minister on the other hand says that files have gone miss-ing and then assures they will be traced. He was the custodian of the files as he was the concerned min-ister. If the files, under his custody went missing, who will now trust him that he will get them back,” he said. Minister of State for Par-liamentary Affairs Rajiv Shukla feigned ignorance about any plan

to adjourn the session sine die. He said that the government would try its best to pass the Food Security bill in this ses-sion.

“All the political parties should come forward in passage of this people-ori-ented bill. They can keep raising their issues but a smooth passage should be provided to this key bill, which aims at giving food security to 67 per cent of the population,” he said.

Maharashtra honours Dabholkar, clears rationalist bill after his murderDabholkar, who was running an anti-super-

stition movement in Maharashtra and had even drafted a bill for the purpose in the late 1990s, was shot dead in Pune on Tuesday morning.

The contentious legislation is the first of its kind in the country — aimed at banning supersti-tions, inhuman rituals and black magic that have been used to exploit people in the name of reli-gious beliefs.The decision on the ordinance was taken by the state cabinet unanimously.Sources said the ordinance will be promulgated by the state government after it holds a meeting with representatives of the Warkari sect which have raised some objections to the proposed law.

In its meeting on Wednesday, the state cabi-net witnessed heated arguments among ministers over Dabholkar’s murder with some of the min-isters questioning the delay in passing the legisla-tion, pending for the last eight years.

The cabinet finally decided to issue an ordi-nance by incorporating the changes which were

suggested and approve the same before the mon-soon session. The ordinance is being issued since the state legislature’s session will now be held only in December.

After drafting the anti-superstition bill in the late 1990s, Dabholkar had attended every ses-sion of the state legislature since 2003, when it was first tabled in the assembly, to lobby for its passage with the state government as well as the Opposition.The bill has had a controversial his-tory and has gone through several drafts and 29 amendments in the last decade, the most recent changes being made earlier this year.Outside the legislature, Dabholkar and his legislation have witnessed even more vehement opposition — from right-wing groups who claim it targets Hinduism.

While hardline organisations like the Hin-du Jan Jagruti Samiti and Sanatan Sanstha have openly declaimed the bill as anti-Hindu since its inception.

Comparison with Modi irrelevant: SiddaramaiahA day after actor-turned Housing Minister

M.H. Ambareesh embarrassed the Congress by describing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as “Narendra Modi of the Congress”, Mr. Sidda-ramaiah himself led the damage-control exer-cise by categorically making it clear that there cannot be any comparison between him and Mr. Modi.Progressive writers too came to his support by observing that Mr. Siddaramaiah is a person who can only be compared to the former Chief Minister and champion of back-ward classes late D. Devaraj Urs, but not with Mr. Modi.

“Mr. Ambareesh’s intentions may be good. But let me tell you clearly that this kind of comparison between me and Mr. Modi is to-tally irrelevant,” Mr. Siddaramaiah remarked while participating in the 98 birth anniversary celebrations of Devaraj Urs organised by the Backward Classes Welfare Department in Bangalore. In an obvious reference to the fact that Mr. Modi, who heads the BJP’s national election campaign committee, is eyeing a

role in the national politics, Mr. Siddaramaiah said: “I do not want to go to Delhi. Even in my dreams, I cannot think of such a role for me.”

He also lashed out at Mr. Modi by remark-ing that: “How much ever the BJP praises him, the fact is that he is not pro-people like De-varaj Urs was.”

Take exception:Without taking Mr. Am-bareesh’s name, progressive writers too ex-pressed displeasure over such a comparison and instead sought to draw a parallel between him and Devaraj Urs who was known for his efforts to bring the downtrodden sections into the mainstream.Taking serious excep-tion to such a comparison, writer Baraguru Ramachandrappa said: “Mr. Modi is not a role model and he should not be a role model also.”Indicating that Mr. Modi and Mr. Sidda-ramaiah are diagonally opposite characters in terms of ideology and thinking, he said: “Mr. Modi’s priority is helping MNCs and capi-talists. In fact, he has given sops (Rs. 12,000 crore) to capitalists.

Welcome Food Security scheme, but just a first step, say activists“It is a welcome first step,”

said Right to Food campaign’s Kavita Srivastava on Delhi’s launch of the Food Security scheme today.

While Right to Food cam-paign has been critical of the Food Security Bill, that is pend-ing before Parliament, for fall-ing far short of providing food security in its true sense, it has welcomed Delhi’s expansion of the public distribution system through its implementation of the food security scheme.

“More people are going to be covered un-der the Public Distribution System (PDS) and that is definitely a welcome step. It shows that we are not writing off the PDS. It is a welcome first step. Yes, it is far from nutrition or food security. What it is, is an expansion of cover-age of the PDS, which is an important issue,” she said.

“In that sense, it is a welcome develop-ment, especially given what was proposed last year. Delhi had moved towards cash transfer with its Annashree scheme, which never even took off. Now they have revised their position to distribution through ration shops and that is welcome,” said Srivastava.

So will the food security bill limit the role of states from expanding the scope of food security? Social activist Nikhil Dey, who has been associated with the Right to food cam-paign said, “The provisions (of the legislation) make it clear that states will have flexibility. One hopes that what Chhattisgarh has achieved most other states will achieve or surpass.”

Dey said he didn’t think the new law would affect existing state laws such as the Chhat-tisgarh Nutrition and Food Se-curity Act, which is considered to be far better than national scheme.

“I don’t think it will and if it does that is something that can

be ironed out. All of us are very much in fa-vour of flexibility. Chhattisgarh food security Act is certainly an improvement. And it will be much easier for Chhattisgarh to implement it,” he said.

Srivastava also agrees that the food secu-rity bill allows flexibility to states on imple-mentation.

“While the legislation does not limit states what is not clear is the level of central assis-tance to the states in implement the scheme. The commitment of central assist to states should be clearly spelt out. It should be at least up to 50 per cent, ” she said.Asked about the key amendments the campaign would like to see before the bill is passed, Srivastava said, “The bill has been very unfair to the destitutes. They have been completely left out, there is no mention of community kitchens. That provi-sion should be restored.”

“The bill, through Schedule II, note 1 and 2, is opening doors to contractors. That should be completely scrapped. A crucial issue is that of the minimum entitlement of 5 kg is too lit-tle. We have proposed 14 kg for an adult and 10 kg for a child. Ten kg person per household should be the minimum entitlement,” she said.

Non-Telangana leaders urged to ‘cooperate’ for AP bifurcation

The pro-Telangana outfit organised today an event here, urging the leaders from non-Telangana regions to cooperate for the division of Andhra Pradesh.

Through the ‘Santhi Deek-sha’, Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) sought to sent out the message that peace should prevail during the process of division.

Meanwhile, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao is likely to undertake a tour of the Telangana region soon to interact with the people and party cadres, party sources said.