Monthly Archives: August 2018

Circumstances and reason of death being investigated, say officials, rule out ceasefire violation as cause

Srinagar, March 8

A soldier was found dead near the Line of Control (LoC)  in the Keran sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district, an Army official said on Monday.

The official said Gunner Trived Prakash, posted at Kachhal, was found dead due to fire from his service weapon, at sentry post on March 7. “The circumstances and reason of his death are being investigated,” the official said.

The official clarified that the jawan’s death did not occur due to any ceasefire violation. PTI

Demand a resolution that no election in the state should take place on EVMs

MLAs from across the parties in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today demanded a resolution that no election in the state should take place on electronic voting machines. Photo for representation only

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 9

MLAs from across the parties in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha today demanded a resolution that no election in the state should take place on electronic voting machines.

The issue was raised during the Call Attention by the Lok Insaaf Party’s MLA from Ludhiana Simarjeet Singh Bains, when he said his call attention on EVMs was rejected by the Speaker citing lack of jurisdiction of the state Assembly. He said Under Article 328 of the Constitution, the state government had the right to decide whether it wanted Assembly elections to be conducted via ballot paper or EVM. He said the Seventh Schedule of Constitution gave that right to states.

Technology can be manipulated

Every technology, including EVMs, can be manipulated. If election doesn’t take place on EVMs, the BJP can’t win even a single seat in Punjab. — Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress leader

Bains said using same provisions, the Speaker of the Maharashtra state Assembly had asked the government to bring a Bill to reintroduce ballot papers in elections in Maharshtra. Following that other MLAs joined the issue and supported Bains. Breaking his silence in the Punjab Assembly after a gap of almost two years, former minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said various first world countries had already rejected the use of EVMs. He said with EVMs, people’s power to elect their representatives was snatched. He called it the biggest attack on democracy. He said the BJP government had compromised every institution of the country.

Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema also said it had been established that EVMs could be tempered with. He said their party had already raised the issue in Delhi. In Punjab, he said even children knew that EVMs were fraud and the system should come to an end. He also demanded resolution of the House against EVMs.

Agreeing to the demand, Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Sharnjeet Dhillon said the BJP government in The Centre was capable of doing anything to remain in power. AAP MLA Kanwar Sandhu said whatever Navjot Singh Sidhu had said about the system of EVMs concluded the whole issue.

When contacted, State Election Commissioner Dr S Karuna Raju expressed inability to comment on the issue as he said he was unaware of the development in the Punjab Assembly.

athinda, March 8

Mohinder Kaur (73) of Bahadurgarh Jandian village in Bathinda was today honoured at a function organised by the Delhi Commission for Women.

She was given a rousing welcome as she received the award from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. She was given a cash prize of Rs 50,000 and a memento for her active participation in the ongoing farm agitation.

Talking to The Tribune, Mohinder Kaur expressed happiness over the honour she had received. She hit the headlines after Kangana Ranaut tweeted her picture claiming that she was the same “Dadi Bilkis Bano”, who was part of the Shaheen Bagh protest. — TNS

It has been decided to de-induct 20 companies of CAPFs on March 10

Officials in the Ministry said the MHA has extended the deployment of 93 companies of CAPFs. Tribune file

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 9

Keeping in view the farmers’ protest against Centre’s three farm laws on the borders of Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to extend the deployment of 93 of 113 already present companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the national capital till March 15 for law and order duties. 

Officials in the Ministry said the MHA has extended the deployment of 93 companies of CAPFs, including Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), in Delhi till March 15.

As of now, it has been decided to de-induct 20 companies of CAPFs on March 10 and a review would be conducted next week on the continuation of left out 93 companies, the officials said.

Farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. The implementation of the three laws was, in January, put on hold by the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Major Thiru Murugan Thangavelu was held in the case with police claiming he had passed on the question paper via Whatsapp to some other accused

Pune, March 9

Two days after a Major was arrested in connection with the February 28 Army recruitment exam paper leak, Pune police on Tuesday said another military personnel had been detained in Delhi for questioning.

Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta confirmed the development.

Officials said an Anti-Extortion Cell team of Pune police under Inspector Vittal Patil had gone to Delhi as part of the paper leak probe and were jointly working with the Military Intelligence unit based there.

Earlier, Major Thiru Murugan Thangavelu was held in the case with police claiming he had passed on the question paper via Whatsapp to some other accused.

So far, six people, including three Army personnel, have been arrested in the case.

Pune, March 8

A 47-year-old Army officer arrested in connection with a recruitment exam paper leak in Pune was on Monday remanded in police custody till March 15.

The Pune police told the court of Additional Sessions Judge SR Navandar that Major T Murugan, who was arrested from Tamil Nadu, had forwarded the question paper to other accused.

Public Prosecutor Premkumar Agrawal told court that Murugan had forwarded the leaked question paper to other accused through Whatsapp, and the police needed to know from where he got this exam paper.h

Agrawal said the accused had deleted mobile phone chats, which had to be retrieved, and a probe was needed to unearth financial transactions and further links.

Defence counsel A D Lonandkar opposed the plea and told court that the accused’s phone had already been seized and, therefore, there was no need for police custody

Remanding Murugan to police custody till March 15, Judge Navandar said the accused is the key person in the paper leak conspiracy.

“Due to unlawful activities, the entire process of recruitment was stopped and the exam postponed. Considering the seriousness of the crime, there is a need for thorough investigation and for that sufficient police custody is required,” the judge observed.

Police have invoked relevant sections of IPC as well as the Prevention of Corruption Act.

So far, six persons have been arrested, including three Army personnel, for the leak that took place on February 28. PTI

We should either adopt the reforms of developed countries in totality, including liberalisation in agriculture and agri-marketing, social security and crop insurance, as selective actions can distort our well-established system, or try to frame our own viable and dynamic agricultural policies that will provide economic and ecological sustainability and protect the interests of various sections of the population. The provision of legal status for MSP is a necessity.

Continent-wise Agricultural land AVERAGE (1961- 2018). Source: faostat

Milkha Singh Aulakh

THE three farm laws enacted by the Union Government last year could have an enormous impact on the livelihoods of various sections of society as well as food security of our highly populated country. Policy-makers often cite the examples of developed countries to justify the need for such reforms in India to liberalise and open up the farm sector to private players. However, when we compare the social security net, insurance cover and market options available to farmers in India and developed countries, the disparity is striking.

Farmers and farm labourers constitute a smaller proportion of the population in developed countries (2-5 per cent) as compared to India (60-70 per cent). In the US, 897 million acres of agricultural land is cultivated by 2 million farmers; in India, only 350 million acres are cultivated by 145 million farming families. A majority of the farmers in developed countries have large-sized farms. The average farm size in the US is 448 acres, way above India (2.5 acres). Their farmers have the capacity and capability to store their products for long periods after each harvest; they also own transportation facilities. Their farmers are usually involved in decision-making policies that could impact their livelihood. In addition to a much larger cash and commodity support than in India, the government provides them social security, including old-age pension, health services and education to their wards (schoolbuses pick up and drop their wards at their on-farm residences). For example, the farmers of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta provinces in Canada have farms varying from 500 to 2,000 acres, along with modern machinery and infrastructure. They produce mainly wheat, barley, pulses and edible oilseeds that are exported to other countries. After each harvest, farmers often store grains in on-farm silos and transport them only when they get good prices.

Farmers on board

The Canadian Wheat Board was constituted in 1935 with representatives of the government and the farmers. Its functions include identification of markets, negotiations for best prices and delivery of agri products. Accordingly, the farmers grow those crops and transport their produce to allocated railway yards to upload it in containers for onward transport to seaports for export. If and when some fields are left fallow due to lesser demand of agri products, the government compensates farmers for their fallow acreage.

Contract farming under India’s new agri laws would lead to the establishment of large farms and the development of state-of-the-art infrastructure by clubbing landholdings of small, marginal and poor farmers, who have less than five acres and constitute 86 per cent of the farmers. However, such large farms would render rural people unemployed, who account for 60-70 per cent of our population. Keeping in view the joblessness of a significant proportion of the urban population, the movement of people in large numbers from rural areas to cities would aggravate unemployment. In order to avoid unnecessary glut of one agri product or the other and maintain equilibrium between their production and requirements, the state governments and farmers’ cooperatives could be allowed to export their agri products, including fresh vegetables and fruits, directly to other countries.

Insurance schemes

In India, several crop insurance schemes have been formulated, implemented and withdrawn from time to time. In 1999-2000, the government introduced Rashtriya Krishi Bima Yojana. In recent years, four insurance schemes were launched: Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Weather-based Crop Insurance Scheme, Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme and the Pilot Unified Package Insurance Scheme. However, none of these schemes has become popular among farmers because their premium rates are quite high, and they have several inbuilt bylaws for calamities and other factors that are mostly unfavourable to the farmers. For example, while more than 11 lakh policies were purchased by farmers in 2017, only 3.08 lakh were indemnified. Other reasons for their non-acceptance are the complicated procedures involved, lack of education and awareness among farmers, and most importantly, the incapability and affordability of poor farmers to pay the annual premium in advance.

In contrast, the farmers of developed countries are in a better position in several ways and capable of paying premium. A variety of insurance policies are available at competitive rates, which cover personal liability of farmers and their co-workers, their farmhouses and possessions, machinery and livestock, and stored-on-farm agri products, besides the insurance for crops that witness a loss in yield, whether it is due to an insurable cause of loss in the quality or quantity of the insured crop. Governments co-pay substantial premiums; for instance, in British Columbia province of Canada, the government pays up to 45 per cent of the crop insurance premium. Moreover, the system is transparent and farmers use insurance policies to cover the risk and make a profit.

MSP shield

The Union Government introduced the MSP (minimum support price) regime to guarantee a minimum profit for the farmer for his harvest if the open market offers a lesser price than the cost incurred. Although the MSP is announced for 23 farm-produced crops, the Centre does not assure that all these agri products are purchased at or above the MSP. The Centre purchases mainly paddy (unmilled rice), wheat and a few pulses through the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state government agencies for their distribution among poor people through the Public Distribution System (PDS). This leaves the farmers at the mercy of corporates (including private buyers), who may purchase all remaining agri products at whatever price they offer, and farmers have no option but to sell their produce.

As the MSP holds the key to farmers’ security and the nation’s self-sufficiency, the provision of its legal status is a necessity so that no one can swindle, fleece or force poor farmers, who are already in a pitiable condition, to sell their agri products at much lower than economically viable rates. This would also encourage crop diversification so as to avoid a glut of wheat and rice, and reduce imports of pulses and edible oils.

In a nutshell, we should either adopt reforms of developed countries in totality, including liberalisation in agriculture and agri-marketing, social security and crop insurance, as selective actions can distort our well-established system and prove counterproductive, or try to frame our own viable and dynamic agricultural policies that will provide economic and ecological sustainability and protect the interests of various sections of the population.https://d5cefd6206a1688baf168a7fbe850e70.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

The author is former Dean, College of Agriculture, PAU, and founder V-C, Banda

University of Agriculture and Technology, UP

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Capt Amarinder Singh, Chief Minister. file photo

Chandigarh, March 8

Terming the Centre’s proposal on direct payment to farmers, bypassing arhtiyas, as another provocation for growers, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday said the “apathetic” attitude of the Centre would not help resolve the crisis.

The matter had to be resolved by the Centre and growers with the state having no role to play as the farmers’ associations had categorically rejected any political interference, said the Chief Minister, while speaking to mediapersons on the state Budget, which he described as pro-farmer and pro-poor.

He said instead of amicably resolving the farmers’ issue, the Centre was fuelling further angst among them. — TNS

Nodeep Kaur.

Tribune News Service

Ghazipur (Ghaziabad), March 8

Women’s Day celebration at Delhi University’s Arts Faculty turned ugly after activists of Bhagat Singh Chatra Manch (BSCM) and Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) supporters clashed on Monday.

The BSCM had invited Dalit activist Nodeep Kaur, her sister Rajveer Kaur and family members of a few of the rape victims, including Gurmandi and Butana case, to address the crowd on the plight of working and Dalit women.

However, even before Nodeep could address, ABVP supporters led by Delhi University Students Union joint secretary Shivangi Kharwal stopped the proceedings asking whether the organisers had the valid permission to hold such an

After the argument, a scuffle ensued where Nodeep was allegedly dragged, while BSCM’s vice president Sangeeta Geet claimed that her clothes were torn. Also, present was Kisan Morcha’s Legal Cell member Vasu Kukreja, who suffered a swollen eye.

ABVP, however, claims that the clash was started by the organisers. “DUSU was organising a self-defence clinic today. And these people, majority of which were outsiders, were holding a meet outside the Conference Centre of Arts Faculty,” ABVP State Secretary Siddharth Yadav said.

“When DUSU joint secretary Shivangi and few others came out they objected to a few posters that were showing our forces in bad light. On finding that these people had no permission to hold the event an argument happened. Someone grabbed her chunni and then scuffle broke out,” he explained.

Yadav also said that the police then intervened and few persons from both the sides were detained. However, Sangeeta Geet claimed that the brawl was started by the ABVP supporters.

“They began tearing our posters down. Some of them, including Shivangi Kharwal were abusing us and the police just looked the other way,” Geet said.

“My clothes were torn, Nodeep was dragged away. Advocate Kukreja suffered an injury. Comrade Ravinder and a few SFI activists were detained while ABVP got away,” she added.

Sandeep Dikshit

TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, MARCH 8

The UK Government said it would directly raise “serious and specific concerns” over human rights and freedom to peaceful protests with the Indian Government, especially when Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets PM Narendra Modi on several occasions during the year.

Responding to a discussion in parliament on issues relating to Press freedom and safety of protesters in India in which all dozen speakers, barring one, criticised New Delhi for its handling of farmers’ protests, the UK Government’s Minister of State for Asia Nigel Adams said London had also asked New Delhi to permit Amnesty International to function since it has an important role in a democracy. The UK Government conceded that India’s handling of the protests had caused alarm. At the same time, it said agriculture policy is a domestic matter for the Indian Government.

MPs Khalid Mehmood, Teresa Villiers, Virendra Sharma, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Naz Shah, Layla Moran, Seema Malhotra, John McDonell and Brendon O’Hara were among those who sought accountability.

Car-borne youths fire shots at Singhu

Four youths in a car bearing Chandigarh number allegedly fired shots into the air after a brawl at langar over water at Singhu on Sunday night. No one was injured.