1. Fiscal management: The poor financial health of the state is a major concern. Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has made it clear that there is an immediate need to cut expenses incurred to run the government. His biggest challenge remains funding for pre-poll promises.
2. Sobriety: Unlike the previous government, the new government is expected to maintain a low profile. Manpreet Badal has already turned down the offer to have an official car or security. He drove in his personal car to Raj Bhawan to take oath. Another Cabinet Minister Charanjit Singh Channi removed the red beacon from his car. The party had laid emphasis on ending the VIP culture in its poll manifesto.
3. Depoliticisation of police: A brief has been given to the DGP to prepare a presentation on how to modernise the police and a roadmap on how to turn the police into an apolitical force. The government is likely to cut police deployment in service of VIPs.
4. Fewer political appointments: The government is likely to cancel most of the political appointments made by the previous government on different boards, commissions and corporations. A large number of boards, which were especially formed on caste and religious lines, are likely to be abolished. The CM has already made it clear that he doesn’t need an army of advisers.
5. Employment generation: In its previous term (2002-07), the Congress government had banned recruitments in the government sector. Now, the government is likely to lay emphasis on employment generation. Manpreet has been assigned the department of employment generation. ‘One job per household’ is one of the party’s poll promises.

— Vishav Bharti

THESE ROADS WILL REMAIN CLOSED FROM 8AM TO NOON

CHANDIGARH: Due to the swearing-in ceremony of Captain Amarinder Singh as chief minister of Punjab, the commuters would do well if they avoid the following roads. Amarinder will take his oath at Punjab Raj Bhawan, Chandigarh.

So, it is best to avoid the roads leading to it like from the St Kabir School turn Sector-26 and Sector-26 East; the road from Sri Guru Gobind Singh College (SGGS) Light Point of Sectors 7 and 26; the Kishangarh village turn; the dividing roads of Sectors 7/8 petrol pump; the KBDAV School Sector-7 light point and Sectors 5- 6-7- 8 Hira Singh Chowk, will remain closed for general public from 8am to noon.

Police have appealed to the public to avoid these roads and use other roads.

CHANDIGARH: The Mohali office of party strategist Prashant Kishor was not less than a war room of the Congress during Punjab elections.

But as the party scripted a stunning victory in Punjab on Saturday, its poll strategist Prashant Kishor and his team, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), were missing from action.

Kishor was in New Delhi and his team was watching the results from Lucknow, where it has stationed itself after the elections ended.

As poll results started pouring in today, the Congress seemed invincible from the beginning itself.

Even though the Congress Bhawan in Chandigarh was silent, right after 11 am, the Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh’s residence here became the centre of action.

The first to signal a change of guard was the entourage of Punjab officers including KBS Sidhu, Sanjiv Gupta, SK Sharma and Ashok Gupta.

It being Amarinder’s 75th birthday, well-wishers came with bouquets and cakes.

But Amarinder did not taking any chances this time and appeared only around 12 pm after a landslide victory seemed undisputed.

However, what followed was complete mayhem. As news channels made a beeline to get the best ‘bite’, there was pushing and shoving. Heavy security deployed at his residence struggled to tackle the crowd.

Amarinder was hardly audible in the melee. He even mocked the media, reminding them it was ‘politicians who shout’. Many of us made peace with just the photo-op — Amarinder addressing the media with newlywed grandson Nirvan and his wife, Mriganika, who offered him the victory ladoo.

Some more enterprising ones like us were able to make way to Amarinder’s residence but had to beat a hasty retreat as the staircase leading to his room on the first floor saw a stampede like situation and a domestic help was seen pleading surging masses to leave the wooden railing lest it came off.

The media team had vanished and all media persons who chose to stay back, to get ‘meatier’ quote and picture of Amarinder, saw him leaving for Patiala at 3pm for a victory procession.

Some aggrieved media persons could not help but compare the situation to last elections when Congress had made better arrangements for them.

Perhaps, one is more gracious in defeat than victory!

All the defence pensioners are entitled to Tax Relief under Section 89(1) for the arrears received on Delinking, OROP Instalments and 7 CPC due paid during the FY 2016-17.

In order to claim relief, everyone has to file Form 10E on line before filing ITR.  Without filing Form 10E, you cannot claim IT Relief.

The following details are required for filing For 10E.

1. Pension received for the Years from 2005-06 to 2016-17.

2. Financial year wise breakup of the following arrears.

1. OROP Installments.

2. Cir.547 Arrears.

3. Delinking arrears received in Dec 16/Jan 17.

4. 7 CPC arrears received.

Prepare Form 10E Annexure I and Table A and keep Ready for filing on line in April 2017.

The Break up for the Delinking arrears is available in our website.

We will be uploading the break up for the other arrears very soon. Form 10E also will be uploaded very soon.

Wait for more instructions on Income Tax filing.

All Defence pensioners must submit their PAN Number to the Bank immediately.  Collect Form 16 from Bank in April 2017.

If possible get pension statement from the bank from 1.1.2006 to 31.3.207.  If you are having pass book, copy down the entire pension and total year wise.

If you do not take interest in preparing the above documents, you will not get the IT Relief which will be around 20,000 to 30,000./////. (As received from a friend).

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 7

The Army has silently moved out of Kashmir two of its additional brigades deployed during last year’s unrest to calm down the situation.Five battalions under the two brigades were deployed in the worst-hit Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama districts of south Kashmir and frontier Kupwara district of north Kashmir during the peak of unrest.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)A senior defence official said the additional battalions started moving out in January as the situation improved. “The additional two brigades have completely moved out,” the officer said.The Army had last year launched “Operation Calm Down” to restore normalcy in the Valley, almost two months after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in July that led to massive unrest.Over 4,000 additional troops were deployed in volatile districts. According to human right groups, over 90 people were killed during the unrest. However, the J&K Government claims 76 civilians and two policemen died.The soldiers were engaged in area domination and round-the-clock patrolling in volatile areas alongside Rashtriya Rifles battalions.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said terror remains the ‘most pervasive and serious challenge’ to international security. PTI file photo

New Delhi, March 6

India on Monday renewed its pitch for early adoption of a global convention by the UN (United Nations) to effectively combat terrorism, terming the menace the single biggest threat to international peace and security.

In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said India has been a victim of “proxy war” for several decades and that there was a need for developing an Asian approach to push the global fight against terror networks.

Calling for early adoption of India-backed Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT) by the UN, Parrikar said terror remains the “most pervasive and serious challenge” to international security and an united approach to deal with it was very important.

He was speaking at a conference on combating terrorism at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.

Parrikar said there must be action against entities which fund terror groups, propagate their ideologies and provide safe havens to terror groups and added that India has been seeking inclusion of these provisions in the CCIT.

Talking about issues relating to global security, Parrikar also mentioned about challenges like global uncertainty, revival of populist movements, heightened nationalism, and backlash against globalisation and possible closing of borders by several countries.

The Union Minister said Asia has been victim of some of the most dreaded terrorist networks and a strong regional push from Asia will exert more pressure on rest of the world to adapt a cohesive framework to combat terror.

Without giving specific details, he said India experienced almost seven per cent of the total terror attacks globally.

“Terrorism remains the most pervasive and serious challenge to international security. Developing a serious and cognitive global response to it is very important but seemingly very difficult to achieve,” he said. — PTI

TNS and Agencies

New Delhi, February 28

Angered by “stifling of voices,” hundreds of university students and teachers today held a protest march  aimed at the ABVP as the controversy over free speech in the country gathered pace.Faced with alleged rape threats and a virulent social media backlash, the young woman at the centre of the storm, LSR first-year student Gurmehar Kaur, withdrew her protest against the ABVP, the ruling party-affiliated students’ group, which has been accused of browbeating those who support free speech.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)The large-scale participation of Delhi University students, said to be largest in recent times, was remarkable given that the institution is not known for volatile student activism like Jawaharlal Nehru University.“The protest is essentially against stifling of voices on campuses across the country, including Delhi University. We want to reclaim the space to discuss and dissent,” said All-India Students Association leader in DU Kanwalpreet Kaur. Several students and teachers of Ramjas College  were last week beaten up allegedly by ABVP members for inviting JNU students Umar Khalid and Shela Rashid to a seminar on free speech, which was eventually cancelled.Gurmehar became the centre of a controversy after she launched a social media campaign against the ABVP, which immediately drew threats of rape, allegedly from ABVP members, and ridicule by a Union minister, a BJP MP and ex-cricketer Virender Sehwag.Union Minister Kiren Rijiju wondered who was polluting her mind. He later said his remark was aimed at Leftists and that Gurmehar was free to express her views. “I stand by my comments. Anybody who tweets on social media platform should be careful. But anyone with a contrary view should be allowed to speak. Gurmehar is a young girl and she should be allowed to speak her mind,” he told mediapersons.Gurmehar’s father Capt Mandeep Singh was killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on August 6, 1999, four days after Pakistani troops withdrew from Kargil.Today, as the march made its way through the North Campus of Delhi University, with hundreds of students of JNU, DU and Jamia, she tweeted, “All my friends. Our lovely faculty! how I wish I was there.”In an earlier tweet, she urged people to join the march, which is “about students and not about me.” JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, also joined the anti-ABVP protest.  “You (ABVP) can’t enforce a particular ideology on anyone and their should be room for discussion,” he said while addressing the protesters.The Delhi University issue was vociferously raised by Opposition members at the meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, amid protests by ruling BJP members. The MPs asked Commissioner of Delhi Police whether security had been provided to Gurmehar in view of the threats issued to her. Within an hour of his being quizzed, he conveyed to the MPs that an FIR had been registered against unknown persons following a complaint by the Delhi Commission for Women in connection with the rape threats issued to Gurmehar allegedly by ABVP workers.NHRC notice to Delhi PoliceNew Delhi: The NHRC on Tuesday sought a report from the Delhi Police over allegations that policemen attacked a female student and manhandled journalists during the February 22 clash at Delhi University’s Ramjas College. In a notice to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Kumar Patnaik, the NHRC said it had taken cognizance of complaints and media reports against the police and gave him four weeks to submit a detailed report. IANS

As tweet by daughter of officer killed in 1999 sets social media ablaze, politicians jump in with opposed narratives of subversion and freedom of expression

NEW DELHI: The daughter of an army martyr polarised political and public opinion on patriotism and free speech on Monday, after getting rape threats for posting her protest against the rightwing ABVP over the Capital’s latest campus unrest.

BURHAAN KINU/HTABVP members march with a 180­foot­long Tricolour in DU’s North Campus on Monday.

The controversy began after 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student, posted a picture of herself on Twitter and Facebook. She was seen holding a placard that broadcast her views on last week’s violent clashes in DU where ABVP members allegedly assaulted students, teachers and journalists during a protest march.

“I am student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me,” the message read. The post went viral on Sunday. She was trolled, called an anti-national, and allegedly threatened with rape for her campaign against the ABVP, which owes allegiance to the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor. Politicians jumped into the debate soon enough, with junior home minister Kiren Rijiju asking in a tweet: “Who’s polluting this young girl’s mind? A strong Arm Force prevents a war. India never attacked anyone but a weak India was always invaded.”

Rijiju, the BJP parliamentarian from Arunachal Pradesh, was referring to an old picture of the Lady Shri Ram College literature student that resurfaced on social media. The placard in this photo reads: “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war did.”

Kaur’s father Captain Mandeep Singh was killed in Kashmir soon after Kargil war in 1999. Her social media campaign reignited the debate over intolerance as celebrities such as former cricketer Virender Sehwag and Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda criticising her remarks. The actor even called her a political pawn. Kaur retorted: “Really sweet of you to encourage the hate I’ve been receiving. Makes me feel happy that I adored your work 🙂 Pawn? I can think. I don’t support violence perpetuated on students? Is that so wrong (sic).”

She responded individually to Rijiju and Sehwag too, saying she was not anti-national and her mind is not polluted. The student said she was hurt that the cricketer she had cheered for so often trolled her “at the cost of her father’s death”. CHANDIGARH: Gulgul. That’s what late Capt Mandeep Singh used to call his elder daughter Gurmehar. He wrote her name on a pile of snow in Kupwara in the Kashmir valley, and clicked a picture for his two-year-old daughter back home. It’s a picture that Gurmehar Kaur, 20, carries with her like a talisman 18 years after his death in the Valley.

Today, the first-year English honours student of Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi has become the subject of a vicious war of words being waged on the social media. All over a Facebook post in which she slammed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) action at Ramjas College.

Capt Mandeep’s brother Davinderdeep Singh, a professor of English at DAV College, Nakodar, says his brother would have stood like a rock behind his daughter. “He would have supported her tooth and nail. She is entitled to her opinion, she did not say anything anti-national.”

ON CAPT MANDEEP

Capt Mandeep, 30, was posted in 4 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Kupwara when militants stormed his camp in August 1999. He was killed in the gunbattle that followed. Davinderdeep, who was 24 at that time, says a few months earlier, his brother had shot down three militants in a 30-hour encounter at Bandipora.

“He was much dreaded by militants active in the area. They had kept a reward on him. Even when they stormed the camp, they shouted out his name,” he recounts.

Capt Mandeep was an avid bodybuilder . Anup Vats, a former professor at DAV College, Jalandhar, recalled how Mandeep had taken part in Mr Jalandhar contest.

VOICE OF RAM

Gurmehar, all of two when Capt Mandeep was killed, and her younger sister Bani, who was only five months old, remember a lifetime spent missing their father.

Gurmehar first shot into limelight in May last year, when she was the subject of a silent video by Ram Subramaniam, an ad filmmaker whose Facebook page, “Voice Of Ram”, aims to “create a positive change”. Telling her story through placards, Gurmehar recounted how she had tried to stab a burqa-clad woman when she was six because she believed Muslims had killed her father.

She had a change of heart when her mother, Rajvinder Kaur, a Punjab Civil Services officer, taught her that it was a war that killed her father, not people from a particular religion. “Today, I am also a soldier just like my dad. I fight for peace between India and Pakistan.”

BOOK ON INDO-PAK PEACE

In a Facebook live chat on January 30 this year, Gurmehar says: “My life has been very difficult. But my mother taught me that hate doesn’t get you anywhere .”

Praising her college, she says it encouraged open thoughts and free conversations. Saying that she was working on Indo-Pak peace, Gurmehar disclosed that she had penned a book on life in the forces and peace between the two neighbours. “We can have a cordial relationship.”

Gurmehar, who commands quite a following in Pakistan, says that she wants to visit Pakistan, hopefully this year.

Davinderdeep says the family is traumatised by the vicious attacks on Gurmehar, calling her anti-national. “We haven’t said a word about this to my father who is very ill.”

A soldier’s daughter, she fights for Indo-Pak peace

HANDIGARH: Gulgul. That’s what late Capt Mandeep Singh used to call his elder daughter Gurmehar. He wrote her name on a pile of snow in Kupwara in the Kashmir valley, and clicked a picture for his two-year-old daughter back home. It’s a picture that Gurmehar Kaur, 20, carries with her like a talisman 18 years after his death in the Valley.

Today, the first-year English honours student of Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi has become the subject of a vicious war of words being waged on the social media. All over a Facebook post in which she slammed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) action at Ramjas College.

Capt Mandeep’s brother Davinderdeep Singh, a professor of English at DAV College, Nakodar, says his brother would have stood like a rock behind his daughter. “He would have supported her tooth and nail. She is entitled to her opinion, she did not say anything anti-national.”

ON CAPT MANDEEP

Capt Mandeep, 30, was posted in 4 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in Kupwara when militants stormed his camp in August 1999. He was killed in the gunbattle that followed. Davinderdeep, who was 24 at that time, says a few months earlier, his brother had shot down three militants in a 30-hour encounter at Bandipora.

“He was much dreaded by militants active in the area. They had kept a reward on him. Even when they stormed the camp, they shouted out his name,” he recounts.

Capt Mandeep was an avid bodybuilder . Anup Vats, a former professor at DAV College, Jalandhar, recalled how Mandeep had taken part in Mr Jalandhar contest.

VOICE OF RAM

Gurmehar, all of two when Capt Mandeep was killed, and her younger sister Bani, who was only five months old, remember a lifetime spent missing their father.

Gurmehar first shot into limelight in May last year, when she was the subject of a silent video by Ram Subramaniam, an ad filmmaker whose Facebook page, “Voice Of Ram”, aims to “create a positive change”. Telling her story through placards, Gurmehar recounted how she had tried to stab a burqa-clad woman when she was six because she believed Muslims had killed her father.

She had a change of heart when her mother, Rajvinder Kaur, a Punjab Civil Services officer, taught her that it was a war that killed her father, not people from a particular religion. “Today, I am also a soldier just like my dad. I fight for peace between India and Pakistan.”

BOOK ON INDO-PAK PEACE

In a Facebook live chat on January 30 this year, Gurmehar says: “My life has been very difficult. But my mother taught me that hate doesn’t get you anywhere .”

Praising her college, she says it encouraged open thoughts and free conversations. Saying that she was working on Indo-Pak peace, Gurmehar disclosed that she had penned a book on life in the forces and peace between the two neighbours. “We can have a cordial relationship.”

Gurmehar, who commands quite a following in Pakistan, says that she wants to visit Pakistan, hopefully this year.

Davinderdeep says the family is traumatised by the vicious attacks on Gurmehar, calling her anti-national. “We haven’t said a word about this to my father who is very ill.”

 

New Delhi, February 23The cross-LoC raids were a tactical rather than a strategic success since the old rules stood, says a new book.“Defeat Is an Orphan: How Pakistan Lost the Great South Asian War” by Myra MacDonald tracks the defining episodes in the relationship between India and Pakistan from 1998, from bitter conflict in the mountains to military confrontation in the plains, from the hijacking of a plane to the Mumbai attacks.India has come a long way from the lonely humiliation of the Kathmandu to Kandahar hijacking in 1999 to the public announcement of cross-LoC raids into Pakistan-held territory in 2016, says MacDonald, a journalist and author specialising in South Asian politics and security.“The cross-LoC raids were a tactical rather than strategic success, since the old rules stood. Pakistan was unlikely to abandon its strategy of supporting some jihadis while fighting others — the ideology of confrontation with India had become too deeply embedded to be uprooted. Nor had India escaped the requirements of ‘strategic restraint’.“Beyond skirmishes on the LoC, more significant Indian military action still faced the risk of escalation into a nuclear exchange. Inside the Kashmir valley, India still needed to find the political means of addressing Kashmiri resentment. In the event of further attacks from Pakistan, moreover, India’s options for further unpredictable retaliation remained limited,” the author says.“If it had international support for its cross-LoC raids, it was precisely because Indian responses to attacks by jihadis from Pakistan had been so carefully controlled since 1998, thanks to Prime Minister Modi’s predecessors,” the book, published by Penguin Random House, says.“It could not continue seeking ever more forceful retaliation without putting that at risk. Nor could it rely on international impatience with Pakistan —- it was too useful a country for China and too worrying for the United States to abandon.”According to MacDonald, Pakistan’s defeat in the Great South Asian War contained a warning for India too.“Pakistan had been brought low by hubris, a chauvinist nationalism and an unhealthy obsession with its neighbour. As it emerged as the far stronger power, India needed to be wary of succumbing to similar sentiments, lest it neglect the need to tend to the domestic stability and restraint that had served it so well,” she says. — PTI

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 22

Senior military commanders of India and China today discussed setting up of additional meeting points for the two armies along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and to have a “hotline” at the Director-General of Military Operation-level (DGMO) on either side.India has such a “hotline” with Pakistan. A 15-member delegation from Western Theatre Command of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), China, is on a five-day visit (February 21-26) to India. The PLA delegation led by Major-General Zhao Jin Song, Vice-Chief of Staff of Western Theatre, met the Indian delegation led by Additional DGMO Maj-General YK Joshi, here in New Delhi today.A statement by Indian authorities today said: “Leaders of two delegations discussed the importance of having regular bilateral exchanges and additional border personnel meeting points.”India, China have five such meeting points along the un-demarcated 3,488-km LAC, the de facto boundary with India—Spanngur Gap at Chusul in eastern Ladakh, Bum-La near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and Nathu-La in Sikkim. In the past one year, two additional points have been opened at Daulat Baig Oldie in the disputed Depsang plains in sub-sector north (SSN) of eastern Ladakh and one at Kibithoo in far-eastern Arunachal Pradesh.Sources said the Chinese side has proposed an additional meeting point in south-eastern Ladakh. The two sides also discussed modalities of a DGMO-level hotline. In April last year, when Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar undertook a five-day visit to China, the Chinese had agreed to the draft of the memorandum on establishing a hotline between the two military headquarters. The Indian Army statement said: “The two sides agreed that peace on the border is an important guarantor for development and continued growth.”

5 already in place

• India, China have five meeting points along the un-demarcated 3,488-km LAC, the de facto boundary with India
• In the past one year, two additional points have been opened at Daulat Baig Oldie in the disputed Depsang plains in sub-sector north of eastern Ladakh and one at Kibithoo in far-eastern Arunachal Pradesh