Srinagar, July 31:

The Cabinet which met here Wednesday under the chairman-ship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah ordered transfers and postings of 18 officers including IAS officers in administration.According to KNS, Ms. Sonali Kumar, IAS, Principal Resident Commissioner, J&K Government, New Delhi, has been transferred and posted as Chairperson, J&K Special Tribunal, vice Ms. Sarita Chouhan.K.B. Aggarwal, IAS, Principal Sec-retary to the Government, Higher Education Department, has been transferred and posted as Princi-pal Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, vice Ms. Sonali Kumar.Shantmanu, IAS, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government, Industries & Commerce Depart-ment, has been transferred and posted as Divisional Commission-er, Jammu.Sarita Chouhan, IAS, Chairper-son, J&K Special Tribunal, has been transferred and posted as Secretary to the Government, An-imal & Sheep Husbandry Depart-ment, vice M.A. Bukhari.M.A. Bukhari, IAS, Secretary to the Government, Animal & Sheep Husbandry Department, has been transferred and posted as Secre-tary to the Government, General Administration Department, vice Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad.Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad, IAS, Sec-

retary to the Government, Gen-eral Administration Department, has been transferred and posted as Secretary to the Government, Higher Education Department, vice K.B. Aggarwal.Saurabh Bhagat, IAS, Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, Economic Recon-struction Agency, has been trans-ferred and posted as Secretary to the Government, Industries & Commerce Department, vice Shantmanu.Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Secre-tary, J&K Legislative Council, has been transferred and posted as Secretary to the Government, Department of Law, Justice & Par-liamentary Affairs. He shall also hold the additional charge of the post of the Secretary, J&K Legisla-tive Council, till further orders.The post of the Secretary, J&K Ac-countability Commission, held by Ms. Anita Koul, has been upgrad-ed in status and responsibility to that of Secretary in the Depart-ment of Law, Justice and Parlia-mentary Affairs, till it is held by her.Mohammad Sayed Shah, Regis-trar, J&K State Information Com-mission, has been transferred and posted as Director, Urdu Coordination Cell, Law Depart-ment, which post shall has been upgraded in status and responsi-bility to that of the Secretary in the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, till it is held by him.

Saugat Biswas, IAS, Additional Secretary to the Government, PHE, Irrigation & FC Department, has been transferred and posted as Managing Director, J&K Medi-cal Supplies Corporation.Shyam Vinod Meena, IAS, await-ing orders of adjustment in the General Administration Depart-ment, has been transferred and posted as Additional Secretary to the Government, PHE, Irrigation & FC Department, vice Saugat Biswas.Mohammad Javid Khan, KAS, Deputy Commissioner, Shopian, has been transferred and posted as Director, Industries, Kashmir, relieving Tariq Ahmad Mir, Di-rector, Command Area Develop-ment, Kashmir, of the additional charge of the post of the Director, Industries, Kashmir.Bashir Ahmad Bhat, KAS, Direc-tor, Rural Sanitation, J&K, has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner, Shopian, vice Mohammad Javid Khan.Tahseen Mustafa, Chief Engineer, R&B Department, Jammu, has been transferred and posted as Chief Executive Officer, Econom-ic Reconstruction Agency, vice Saurabh Bhagat.Mohammad Matloob Khan, KAS, Additional District Development Commissioner, Rajouri, has been transferred and posted as Direc-tor, Rural Sanitation, J&K, vice Bashir Ahmad Bhat.

See Cabinet on Pg. 11

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ThurSDAY August 01 | 2013 | 22 ramzan 1434 Ah | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 3 | ISSuE NO: 187 | rS: 2/- (AIr SurChArGE FOr JAMMu /DELhI/LEh 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&K

Cabinet orders transfers of 18 top officers in JK Srinagar, July 31:

The recently enhanced in-take capacity of the state run medical colleges in the state would be made operational from this aca-demic session only. Minis-ter for Medical Education, Youth Services & Sports, Mr. Taj Mohi ud Din, who had pursued the enhance-ment of seats in the J&K medical colleges in view of the increased demand of medicos, today directed the J&K Board of Profes-sional Entrance Examina-tion (BOPEE) to include the 150 MBBS seats also which

were increased by the Medi-cal Council of India (MCI) recently.

This follows a letter of con-firmation of seats’ increase in the state run medical colleges of J&K from the

Board of Governors of MCI received today. Immedi-ately, the Minister directed the BOPEE to make neces-sary arrangements to in-clude these seats also while framing the merit lists of the entrance test for which the students appeared last week only and not let the seats go lapsed.It may be recalled that the MCI had recently decided to increase the intake capac-ity of Government Medical Colleges of Srinagar and Jammu from 100 to 150 and that of SKIMS Medical Col-lege, Bemina from 50 to 100.

See Taj on Pg. 11

Increased 150 MBBS seats to be filled from this academic session: Taj

http://www.zabarwantimes.com

Bukhari is Secretary GAD; DGES Post Created

Man commits suicide in GanderbalSrinagar July 31: A 50 years old Abdul Gani son of Mohammad Ibrahim Khan resident of Nai Basti, Bailawosan, Gutlibagh, Ganderbal consumed some poisonous substance at his home. He was shifted to SKIMS, Soura, for treatment, where he expired. The body was handed over his relatives after complet-ing all legal formalities.

7 Injured in road mishapsSrinagar July 31: Seven persons were injured in different road accidents across the Kashmir Valley. A Tata 407 Passenger vehicle bearing registration number JK03/4782 skidded of the road near Brad, Anantnag in the jurisdiction of police station Ashmuqam, resulting in injuries to six persons.

See Injured on Pg. 11

Dar bereaved Srinagar, July 31: Mother of Mohammad Yousuf Dar, working in regional News Unit of Radio Kashmir Srinagar, has passed away late Tuesday evening. The last rites of the deceased were performed on Wednesday morning at ancestral graveyard at Kan-doora Beerwah Budgam. Her Charum would be observed on Saturday. Meanwhile, Zabar-wan Times management has expressed grief and sorrow over the demise of Dar’s mother and expressed sympathies with bereaved.

SRINAGAR, JULY 31:

The Public Undertak-ings Committee (PUC) of the Jammu and Kashmir Legisla-tive Assembly which met here Wednesday under the Chair-manship of MLA Muhammad Sharief Niaz has instructed the authorities of J&K SC, ST, BC Development Corporation to launch a massive awareness campaign through print and electronic media about the schemes being implemented by the Corporation for the ben-efit of the targeted populace.

Legislators Jugal Kishore, Dr. Shafi Ahmad Wani, Ab-dul Gaffar Sofi, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Peer Afaaq Ahmad, Jagdesh Raj Sapolia, Ms. Indu Pawar and Ghulam Nabi Monga attended the meeting and gave their valuable suggestions for improving the functioning of

the Social Welfare Department and the Corporations under its administrative control

The Committee also sug-gested that the amount being paid to the beneficiaries should be enhanced in view of the day to day market rates.

The Committee discussed threadbare the Audit Para for the year 2010-11 pertaining to the unauthorised diversion of funds to the tune of Rs 1.15 crore made by the Corpora-tion without the approval of competent authority.Secretary Social Welfare was directed to submit a detailed report based on the factual position for the reasons of diverting of funds along with the names of of-ficers within the period of 15 days, so that the responsibility is fixed on erring officers. He was further directed to ensure that no misappropriation of

funds is made in future with-out the concurrence of the Fi-nance Department.

.The Committee directed the Secretary Social Welfare to ensure that the schemes and programmes under imple-mentation in the State with the financial assistance from the central government be im-plemented strictly under the set norms.Responding to the anguish of Peer Aafaq Hussain that the people are not fully aware about the schemes and programmes of the Corpora-tion, the Chairman instructed the Managing Director to fur-nish a detailed report regarding the schemes and programmes including the list of beneficia-ries along with full address and the amount paid to them during last three years for the scrutiny of the Committee in its next meeting.

Reviews Security arrangements for Budda Amarnath

yatraSRINAGAR, JULY 31:

On the directions of Chief Minister, Omar Abdulla, the Minister of State for Home Sajad Ahmad Kichloo conducted tour of the District Poonch in order to sort-out long pending issue regarding acute shortage of space in of Idd-Gah. It was decided that the land adjoining to Idd-Gah, which belongs to Fire & Emergency Services, shall be given to Idd-Gah and Fire Station Poonch shall be re-located within Poonch town. About 4 kanals of Govern-ment land have already been identified for Fire Station Poonch.

The Minister was accompanied by the MLA Poonch Aijaz Ahmad Jan, DGP Fire and Emergency Services Dr. G.A Bhatt, Dis-

trict Development Commissioner Poonch Sajjad Ahmad, SSP Poonch, Choudhary Shamsheer, representatives of Auqaf and concerned officers of the District admin-istration.

The Minister also inspected the new spot indentified for Fire Station and di-

rected District Administration to submit a proposal to allot 4 kanal of land under occupation of Horticultural Department to establish F& E.S station within Poonch town.Aijaz Jan thanked the Chief Minister and Sajad Ahmad Kichloo for resolving the long pending issue of Idd-Gah.

Say all hospitals to get this hi-tech service

in phased mannerSRINAGAR, JULY 31:

Hi-tech computerized services was started Wednesday in JLNM hospital Rainawari under the first phase of centrally sponsored e-Hospital Project.

The Service was inaugurated by Minister for Rural Development and Pyanchati Raj, Ali Mo-hammad Sagar in presence of Minister of State for Health.

Mission Director J&K, NRHM, Dr. Yashpal Sharma, Controller Drugs and Food Organiza-tion, Satish Gupta, Managing Director Informa-tion Technology, Suresh, Medical Superinten-dent, Dr. Iqbal, Dr Muhammad Abdullah Deputy Director Health Services Kashmir, Medicos, Pa-ra-medico of JLNM, hospital and senior officers of Health Services, Kashmir besides prominent citizens of the area were also present on the oc-casion.

Appreciating the initiative taken by the J&K National Rural Health Mission, the Rural De-velopment Minister said that this would prove much beneficial in disseminating day to day work of the hospital and would provide quick health services to the patients in the hospital. He congratulated the management of the hos-pital for attaining the distinction of being the first hospital in the Val-ley to have the presti-gious services.

The Minister said that this will help in maintenance of records, creation of Data base for research, quick handling of registration, compila-tion of day-to-day data base and Information regarding registration of patients. He underscored the need for extend-ing the e-hospital facility to other hospitals of the State.

Sagar said that government under the lead-ership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made tangible achievements in upgradation of healthcare facilities during last over 4 years in

the state. He said that expansion of Lalla Ded Hospital, Children Hospital, Rainawari Hospital and other district hospitals has provided much relief to the patients in their treatment at their areas.

He appreciated the efforts of State Health Minister which he taken to improve and up-

grade healthcare facili-ties in the hospitals. He also underscored the need for timely comple-tion of upgradation work of JLNM hospital. He called upon medicos and para-medicos to work with more missionary spirit for the welfare of the patients.

The e- Hospital project @NIC Suite is a web based solution us-ing Free Open Source Software (FOSS) tools for managing healthcare service delivery in public hospitals to accelerate infusion adoption of ICT tools and maintain healthcare standards. FOSS is generic software which covers major func-tional areas like patient care, laboratory servic-es, work flow based document and information

exchange, human resource and medical records management of hospital.

Giving further details, the State Health Minister said the project has been funded un-der National Rural Health Mission for managing healthcare service delivery in public hospitals and to maintain healthcare standards. He said the e-Hospital project costing Rs 6.5 crore has to be implemented in two phases covering four modules, including outdoor patient and in door patient, emergency and billing in the first phase and store management, Radiology and Lab ser-vices in phase second. “So far the e-hospital projects have been implemented in only two hospitals of the State, including Government Hospital JLNM, Rainawari and Gandhi Nagar, Jammu with26,000 and 40,000 registrations, respectively”, Shabir said.

The Minister said the project will help in maintenance of records, creation of data base for research, quick handling of registration, compilation of day-to-day data base and infor-mation regarding registration of patients.

The Health Minister said all district hospitals will be brought under the project to streamline and improve healthcare delivery system in the government run health institutions.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart, Aries. You’ll learn this today as good fortune puts you in the right place at the right time. You may meet someone who makes a big difference to your career. Perhaps he or she turns you on to a good job prospect or introduces you to someone who ends up being a business partner. Your life may change if you’re open to possibilities.

Today you may wake up and realize that there is serious room for improvement. If decorating isn’t your strong suit, why not call in the professionals? In the meantime, there’s a lot you can do by simply clearing away the clutter and reorganizing your bookcases in a more attractive way. Mingle some artwork and knick-knacks among the books for a more interesting.

You tend to keep to yourself, Cancer, but today you could be inspired to join a group activity. Perhaps some friends have invited you to come out for drinks. Or maybe a neighbor asked you to consider joining a neighborhood organization. Whatever the scenario, all signs indicate that any group activity you join will be worthwhile.

Technology is highlighted for you today, Leo. It could be that you install a new phone or computer sys-tem, which will make life just a bit easier. Or perhaps you decide to take a course to learn to master a techni-cal area that has been difficult for you to grasp. Whatev-er you do or learn today is bound to make you happier and more productive.

You’re a social creature, Virgo, and today you can expect to attract a lot of attention. You’re feeling good and looking even better - and don’t think that people don’t notice! Make it a point to get out and mingle with others. You’re a talented, capable person in your own right, but you really shine when you’re with others. This is especially true today.

You have a romantic soul. Today your thoughts are on love and romance. You may be thinking of that special someone in your life, grateful that you’ve found each other. Or you may wish you had someone impor-tant in your life and spend a good part of the day plot-ting how to find a mate. If you’re serious about settling down, draw on all of your resources to make it happen.

Something big could be occurring close to home to-day. It would be advisable to stay inside, if possible, or at least not stray too far. Traffic may be gridlocked and the sidewalks crowded with pedestrians anxious for a closer look. Use this self-imposed “house arrest” to do some neglected chores. Play music and have fun while you organize bookshelves and clear the clutter.

You have hidden talents that may be revealed to you today, Sagittarius. Perhaps collaboration with someone new has you doing things you never thought you could. Perhaps you discover a talent for writing, graphic de-sign, or money management. You can’t help but delight in this discovery, as it opens up a world of new possibili-ties. You don’t need to take action now.

You’re a kind, caring individual, Capricorn. Today your concern for others may be so strong that you take steps to do something concrete to save, if not the world, at least a few of the individuals in it. You may hear of a worthy cause that’s about to fold for lack of volunteers. You could turn out to be just the savior they need. One person truly can make a difference.

Today you may develop a deeper understanding of what’s really important to you. You may be surprised by what you discover. The material means far less to you than the spiritual. It may have taken you a while to learn this, but now there’s no going back. Your posses-sions feel like dead weight. The mere thought of your family and friends fills your heart with love and light.

Your life is likely to enlarge today, Pisces, either through a new group affiliation or people you meet. You may be invited to a party where a whole world of new and exciting events opens up to you. You may be re-united with a good friend from your past who can open all sorts of professional doors for you. Be receptive to anyone and everyone you meet.

Be open to any invitations that come your way or any new people you meet. Change is in the air for you, Taurus, and you need only be receptive in order for it to come about. You may even meet someone at a social event who winds up being your partner for life. Explore all your interests and trust your intuition, for it will be a reliable guide.

Sagar inaugurate e-Hospital project in JLNM hospital Rainawari

Kichloo resolves Poonch Eidgah issue amicably

Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS Srinagar |thurSday 01 .8 .2013

Sakina distributes worth RS 5 lakhs ADIP appliances

among 92 beneficiariesBARAMULLA, JULY 31: As a continuous efforts of the Present

dispensation to provide the immediate justice to downtrodden, weak, disabled and handicapped, the Minister for Social Welfare, MS Sakina Itoo on Wednesday visited district Baramulla and distributed ADIP appliances among 92 beneficiaries including 28 wheel chairs,22 tricycles and 40 hearing aids on which Rs.5 lakhs have been spent.The Minister also distributed scholarship cheques to the tune of Rs.9 lakhs among 288 militancy affected school going children under Militancy affected Rehabilitation Scheme.The function was organised by J&K Militancy Rehabilita-tion Council with active support of District Social Welfare Centre, Baramulla. Director, Social Welfare Department, Kashmir Fa-rooq Ahmed Khan, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla Manzoor Ahmed, Director, J&K Rehabilitation council, Hafizza Muzuffer, Director Tribal, District Social Welfare officer, Baram-ulla and other senior officers were present on the occasion.On the occasion, addressing a large gathering, the Minister said that Government has already launched a large number of welfare schemes to address the problems of this vital part of the society. She asked the people to come forward and encourage these chil-dren, so that they many not feel any kind of aloofness. She further said that they need physical support rather than any other kind of assistance and asked people to provide them a helping hand, so that they may not feel any kind of deprivation. She said that direc-tions have already been passed on the ground to cover all those disabled ,handicapped people and widows within two year time limit, who till date have not been covered under various welfare schemes launched by the Social Welfare department in the State.

Ms Sakina said that the main purpose of the concept of single line administration of the late Sher-i-Kashmir, Sheikh Moham-mad Abdullah was to provide prompt and good governance to the common people not from the civil sect but from the district headquarters.

Mir reviews setting up of KVK at Mangloora, Tangmarg

Dean Faculty of Commerce & Management Studies

University of Kashmir, SrinagarLA panel directs for massive campaign about the schemes being implemented

by J&K SC, ST, BC Dev Corp

SRINAGAR, JULY 31:-

A meeting to discuss the for estab-lishment of Krishi Vigyan Kendra(KVK) coming under villages of Mangloora , Hardubani and Lalpora of tehsil Tang-marg, district Baramulla was held here Wednesday under the Chairmanship Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Hassan Mir.

The land measuring 300 kanals and 5 marlas of above mentioned villages has already been transferd to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), through Central Institute of Temperate Horticul-ture (CITH), Srinagar by Agriculture De-partment for establishment of a KVK un-der cabinet decision No 64/10 of 2012.

The meeting was attended by the Commissioner Secretary, Agriculture Pro-duction, Dr. Asgar Samoon, representa-tives of SKUAST-K, CITH and other senior officers of the Department.

The Minister directed the CITH to speed up other formalities at the earliest so that the construction of this ambitious project be started and a long pending de-mand of people is fulfilled.

The Minister was informed that al-most all the formalities have been com-pleted and assured the work on the proj-ect would be started soon.

Mr Mir said that the establishment of KVK at Tangmarg would boost the ag-riculture activities by providing farmers latest technical knowhow. He said that KVKs have pivotal role in introduction of Agri- Horti technological innovation for

increasing quality production. Mir said that its establishment would

also create huge job opportunities for lo-cal youths of the area besides providing skill development training programmes to the farmers of the area.

MTHM Notification for Group Discussion and Personal Interview-2013It is notified for the information of all concerned that the candidates bearing following ENT application form numbers have become eligible to

appear in the Group Discussion and Personal Interview for MTHM Programme-2013. The date and time for the GD/PI shall be notified separately. The admission of all the candidates for Groups Discussion and Personal Interview is purely provisional subject to verification of their original docu-ments.

Open Merit:4011 4002 4007 4036 4005 4050 4073 4077 40274064 4010 4014 4028 4009 4052 4084 4035 40744029 4001 4025 4072 4040 4019 4024 4041 40714090 4051 4070 4087 4017 4045 4046 4043 40474048 4057 4054 4053 4079 4063 4032 4058 40884013 4038 4068 4060 4083 4065 4022 4093 Cutt off= 584004 4069 4012 4030 4033 4067 4066 40394006 4085 4081 4042 4089 4026 4078 4018

Reserved Categories:CDP 4031 4023 4082 4080 Cut off= 94NCC 4059 4061 Cut off= 69RBA 4021 4049 4008 4015 4016

4062 4086 4020 4076 Cut off= 48Sports 4091 Cut off=119WUP 4034 4056 4092 Cut off= 56

The candidates who have completed their degrees from outside State Universities shall be eligible only after the production of necessary original documents in the Business School at the time of their Group Discussion and Personal Interview.

Candidates who do not fall in the above qualified list and are interested to be considered under Self-financed Seats are directed to submit a separate application form (to be downloaded from University website www.kashmiruniversity.net available from August 01, 2013 in the Business School by or before August 05, 2013 with the requisite fee of Rs. 500/- to be deposited in the University Chest.

No: F(Admn.MTHM)DFCMS/KU/13ET-180 Dated 31-07-2013 (Prof. Shabir Ahmad Bhat) Dean

Task Force on declining sex-ratio meetsChief Secretary receives appraisal, asks Health Department to report latest child sex ratio

SRINAGAR, JULY 31- Expressing concern over the reported decline in sex ratio in Jammu and Kashmir, the Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey said that the issue should be flagged as a priority concern and dealt with determination.

Chairing the Ist meeting of the Task Force constituted to study various aspects of declining sex ratio and in particular child sex ratio in the state here, the Chief Secretary received ap-praisal of the data in this regard collected by different agencies districts wise.The Chief Secretary said that the issue is of signifi-cant ramification and the civil society as a whole has to play its important role to help in reversing the trend and ensuring equal chances of birth, growth and development of the girl child along with the male child.The meeting took stock of the measures put in place by various agencies including the Health Department to book those who facilitate as well as help in sex determination and female foeticide. He asked for stringent punishment for the crime and said that necessary measures to make the laws more stringent need to be taken, besides, other effective administra-tive steps aimed at checking the sinful activity.

KPA calls on Ramzan, Discusses CAPD issues

SRINAGAR, JULY 31:- A delegation of Kashmir Press Association (KPA) under the leadership of Ghulam Hassan Kaloo Wednesday called on Minister for Consumer Af-fairs and public Distribution and Transport, Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan.

The Association raised some public important issues with regard to non-availabil-ity of Ration, K.oil sugar, non-presence of market checking.Director CA&PD, Kashmir, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Joint Commissioner SMC, Srinagar were also present on the occasion.The Minister assured the association that adequate and quality stocks of Ration are available in Government ration Depots and any complaint regarding substandard ration if any, the same stock are being retuned back to Food Corporation of India. He said that direction has already been passed that there should be no compromise on quality. With regard to sugar, the Minister said that with adop-tion of new policy by union government, the supply of sugar was halted and state government has completed all the formalities under the new policy and its supply would restored soon. He said presently the department distributes the sugar from old reserves which was lying in FCI godowns, 2kgs per ration holder across the state. Regarding market checking, the Minister was informed by Director CAPD Kashmir that 6 teams checking squads have already been constituted which comprises of con-cerned SDPO, Tehsildar, CADP Officer and Representative of Metrology Department. An amount of Rs 2.18 lakh has been realised as fine from the shopkeepers.

Govt committed for providing basic amenities to people on priority: GureziSRINAGAR, JULY 31:- Minister of State for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Nazir

Ahmed Gurezi Wednesday reiterated that Government’s commitment for the pros-perity and development of the State besides, providing basic amenities to the people

He said number of welfare and developmental schemes have already been com-pleted and various schemes and projects in this regard are being implemented so that people can get maximum benefit.This was stated by the Minister while inter-acting with the various deputationists coming across the State who called him here Wednesday in his office chambers.These deputationists put forth their individual and collective problems which include construction of protection bunds, renovation of lanes and drains, augmentation of water supply schemes, sanctioning of IAY schemes and issuance of timber on concessional rates.While responding to various issues put forth by the people, Gurezi directed the officers of concerned departments for their redressal on the spot and assured the people that their other issues.

E ++HHEAAL L HH5 ZABARWAN TIMES

THURSDAY | 01 AUG 20138 ZABARWANTIMES

Toiletries that might damage your health

As experts deem fake tans 'dangerous', we look at other toiletries that might well be damaging your health, too. Fake tan products are far from alone in containing chemicals that research sug-gests can have nasty side ef-fects. Many cosmetics are formulated with a mixture of controversial synthetic ingre-dients that have been linked to health problems including breast cancer, hormone dis-ruption, fertility issues, asth-ma, allergies, diabetes and

birth defects. And it's this so-called 'chemical cocktail' that has some experts worried - especially when you consider the huge number of different lotions and potions most of us use each day."No one can say that if you use X, Y and Z you're going to develop cancer or diabe-tes," says Elizabeth Salter-Green, of a UK charity. "But an increasing amount of research suggests that high levels of certain in-gredients can affect our health.""When you take

into account the sheer number of products we now use, and the fact that we're also exposed to some of these chemicals through household cleaners, food pesticides, packaging and general industrial out-put," continues Elizabeth, "there's a concern that this collective onslaught could take us over the safety threshold.""Our skin is not an im-penetrable barrier," says author Dawn Mellowship. "It absorbs a significant

amount of what we apply to it into the bloodstream and it can then be stored in the body, where it ac-cumulates and has the po-tential to do harm." How to reduce your levels of chemical exposure1.Use fewer products to reduce your overall expo-sure.2. Check the label and watch out for synthetic chemicals such as para-bens, formaldehyde and triclosan. 3.Don't assume organic or natural is always best. While many such products contain fewer toxic syn-thetic chemicals, it's still worth checking out the in-gredients on a product to find out what is actually in there.4.If there is a big long list of unpronounceable chemical names then it might be worth looking for something with few-er ingredients that you recognise.5.Pay particular attention to the products that stay on your skin the longest, such as creams and lotions.6. Swap dark hair dye for vegetable-based colours or those stating they're PPD-free.

Grapes good for men's heart health

Consuming grapes may help protect heart health in people with metabolic syndrome, a new study has revealed. Researchers observed a reduction in key risk factors for heart disease in men with metabolic syn-drome: reduced blood pres-sure, improved blood flow and reduced inflammation. Natural components found in grapes, known as poly-phenols, are thought to be responsible for these ben-eficial effects. The randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study, led by principal investigator Dr. Maria Luz Fernandez and Jacqueline Barona, a PhD student in Dr. Fernan-dez' lab at the Department of Nutritional Sciences of the University of Connecti-cut, recruited men between 30 and 70 years of age with metabolic syndrome. The study is believed to be the first to look at the impact of grapes on metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syn-drome is a cluster of con-ditions that occur together - increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist or low HDL (the good cholesterol) and in-

creased blood triglycerides - significantly increasing the risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Meta-bolic syndrome is a major public health concern, and is on the rise in the U.S. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to consume grapes, in the form of a freeze-dried whole grape powder, or a placebo powder, for four weeks. Then, following a 3-week "washout" period where neither grapes nor

placebo were consumed, individuals were allocated to the alternate treatment. This powerful study de-sign allowed investiga-tors to compare the re-sponse of each individual to consumption of both the placebo and grapes. The study results showed that for each of the study's subjects, grape consump-tion resulted in significant decreases in blood pres-sure, improved blood flow (greater vasodilation), and

decreases in a compound associated with inflamma-tion. "These results suggest that consuming grapes can improve important risk fac-tors associated with heart disease, in a population that is already at higher risk," Fernandez said. This further supports the ac-cumulating evidence that grapes can positively in-fluence heart health, and extends it to men with metabolic syndrome," Fernandez added.

Migraines do not hurt your brain

Migraines are not associat-ed with cognitive decline, suggests new research even though previous studies have linked the disorder to increased stroke risk and structur-al brain lesions. Migraines affect about 20 percent of the female population, and while these headaches are common, not much is known about this com-plex disease. "Previous studies on migraines and cognitive decline were small and unable to identify a link between the two," said Pamela Rist, research fellow in preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospi-tal (BWH), who led the study. "Our study was large enough to draw the con-clusion that migraines, while painful, are not strongly linked to cogni-tive decline," said Rist,

the British Medical Jour-nal (BMJ) re-ports. The research team analysed data from the Women's Health Study, a cohort of nearly 40,000 women, 45 years and old-er. In this study, researchers analysed data from 6,349 women who provided information about migraine status at baseline and then partici-pated in cognitive testing during follow-up, accord-ing to a BWH statement. Participants were clas-sified into four groups: no history of migraine, migraine with aura (un-pleasant smell, seeing flashing lights), migraine without aura, and past history of migraine. Cog-nitive testing was carried out in two-year intervals

up to three times. "Com-pared with women with no history of migraine, those who experienced migraine with or with-out aura did not have significantly different rates of cognitive de-cline," said Rist. "This is an important finding for both phy-sicians and patients. Patients with migraine and their treating doc-tors should be reas-sured that migraine may not have long-term consequences on cogni-tive function.

The postpartum diet need not be complicated — just a mix of age-old remedies and home science The stork came and went, and left you multitudes of relatives who are telling you what to eat. They are peddling age-old rem-edies, while you are clutching on to your doctor's advice of no green vegetables or fruits. Iron deficiency, constipation and soreness are some of the things you may suffer, while expending more energy and needing more calcium. The best path is to try out both sets of advice and see what works for you. Ketaki Karpe-Kolgaonkar, new mother and clinical pharmacist found that 'the diet should be all about the mother's needs'. "The baby takes the nutrition it needs and doesn't need any help doing that," she says. "Watch out for bac-teria from unwashed vegetables, unpasteurised milk, unfiltered wa-ter or uncooked meats."

Raise calorie intake Nutritionist Dr Shilpa Joshi em-phasises on the importance of wholesome meals with no restric-tions apart from oil and spice, un-less the doctor says so specifically. "The mother needs extra energy,

at least in the first six months, be-cause she will be nursing the baby more often," she says. "So she needs to eat more calories, which will come from small meals, which are rich in proteins — nuts, daals and legumes." If you are a non-vegetarian, don't switch to a leafy vegetarian meal instantly. This will cause you more harm than good. Eat shredded meat in soups and broths without too much spice or oil.

Pump iron Since a new mother suffers from loss of blood, her iron levels could be precariously balanced. A little spinach can go a long way. Ketaki developed low iron levels in her second trimester, and panicked. "So I started to incorporate spin-ach in everything such as daal, chappati dough and even in chick-en curry." She continued this after the baby came, which steadied her iron levels.

Milk the calcium It goes without saying that you'll need lots of calcium so that the baby can use the cafeteria uninter-rupted. "If you are lactose intol-erant, and can't drink milk or eat milk products, go for curd," says Joshi. "Garden cress seeds (aleev

or haleem), are a rich source for calcium. Tra-ditionally, these are made into sugar-rich ladoos. If you are being careful about sugar, make a hal-eem kheer."

Water yourself There's not much you can do to artificially stimulate breast milk, other than drink lots of fluids. Also, new mothers tend to be a little scared of the pain and resist passing urine or stools, which can result in constipation. Ordinarily, this can be resolved by medication, but because medi-cines will pass on the baby, it's better to take preventive action. "I used to keep a huge bottle of water and use a straw to sip it so as to not put pressure on a the C section incision," says Ketaki. Joshi also suggests ingesting fluids by drinking lots of soup, coconut water, broths, whole fruits, fresh fruit juices and milkshakes that are also easier to eat for the har-ried mother. "I would drink straw-berry milkshake so that it didn't feel like you are adding ten things to the plate. Even eating seems overwhelming to a new mom and

if she has to chew one thing less, it's a huge convenience," says Ket-aki. "Fluids help flush out toxins and medication, and help stay ori-ented even with the lack of sleep that comes with parenting." Yoghurt is not only a stool softener but also has the probiotics essen-tial for keeping Urinary Tract In-fection (UTI) away. Edible gum balls (dink ladoos) are a good laxa-tive because of their combination of ghee, edible gum and nuts. "Af-ter the baby came, I would resist therapeutic Indian food without thinking about whether it was sci-entific," says Ketaki. "I eventually did eat one dinkache laadoo a day and that did me good. Sometimes, it pays to listen to your mother - she may know best."

Infants as young as three months of age are able to automatically detect and learn complex dependen-cies between syllables in spoken language, a new study has revealed. In contrast, adults only recognised the same de-pendencies when asked to actively search for them.

The study by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig also highlights the im-portant role of basic pitch discrimination abilities for early language devel-opment. The speed and apparent ease with which young infants learn the

basics of a language regu-larly astound parents and scientists alike. Of course, adults are usually assumed to have the edge in sophis-ticated language learning. However, scientists Jutta Mueller, Angela D. Fried-erici and Claudia Maennel have now found that when it comes to extracting com-plex rules from spoken language, a three-month-old outperforms adult learners. For 20 minutes, the sci-entists played a stream of syllables to babies while measuring their brain re-sponses using electroen-cephalography (EEG). Pairs of syllables appeared together, but were separat-ed by a third syllable. Jutta Mueller, first author of the study, stresses that "such dependencies be-tween non-neighbouring elements are typical for

natural languages and can be found in many gram-matical constructions." For instance, in the sen-tence "The boy always smiles", the third-person-suffix "s" of the verb is dependent on the noun "boy". In the study, this was re-flected in the use of com-binations like "le" and "bu" in sequences like "le-wi-bu". From time to time, however, combinations like "le-wi-to" would ap-pear, in which one of the syllables was out of place. "EEG measurements showed us that the babies recognized this rule viola-tion", Mueller said. Additionally, the scientists would occasionally change the tone of one syllable to a higher pitch - with an interesting outcome: Only those infants whose brains reacted to pitch changes in

a more mature way could detect the syllable depen-dencies. When facing the same task as the babies, adults only showed a reac-tion to the rule violations when asked to explicitly look for dependencies be-tween the syllables. Muel-ler and her colleagues conclude that, evidently, the automatic recognition ability is lost later on. "What we found particu-larly interesting is that the small group of adults who did show evidence of rule learning also showed a stronger brain response to the pitch changes," she said. These findings not only help understand how children manage to learn language so quickly dur-ing early development, but also point to a strong link between very basic audito-ry skills and sophisticated rule learning abilities.

Babies better at learning complex languages

Sleeping pills don`t work for 40 percent poppers

London: Sleeping pills seldom worked for 40 per-cent of the poppers who suffer from insomnia, says a survey of 20,000 peo-ple, according to a British study.Some 42 percent of the patients currently on medication have been sleeping badly for over 11 years or more. A further 22 percent had insomnia lasting two to five years, while one in six had suf-fered between six and 10 years, the survey revealed.Experts said the study sug-gested that sleeping pills were not combating long-term sleep problems and that cognitive behavioural therapy has been proven to be more effective.Around 10 million National Heath Service (MHS) prescrip-tions for sleeping pills are issued each year. But NHS guidelines say they should be for short-term use only - usually for two weeks and up to a maximum of

four weeks at a time. Findings from The Great British Sleep Survey of more than 20,000 adults in Britain found we are a nation of poor sleepers. The average score of sleep quality was only five out of 10. Long-term poor sleep-ers were twice as likely to have relationship prob-lems, suffer from daytime fatigue and lack of concen-tration.The survey also showed almost one in 10 with in-somnia were on sleeping pills prescribed by their

doctor, with one in five us-ing over the counter rem-edies. American research this year found sleeping pills may significantly increase the risk of pre-mature death.The latest survey was sponsored by Sleepio, an online sleep improvement programme which uses cognitive be-havioural techniques. Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, has campaigned for the NHS to highlight the impor-tance of sleep.

NATION DAILY ZABARWAN TIMES

7 SRINAGARThursday, 01 August,2013 Kashmir Thunder

Wednesday 31 . 07 . 2013

Logic of Telangana is sound: Why India needs 50 small states

Yesterday’s Congress decision to allow a new state – Telangana – to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh has a simple logic be-hind it: electoral math. If Telangana had not been announced, Congress would have been wiped out in both the Andhra and Telangana regions in 2014. The announce-ment thus is a matter of self-preservation.

If this wasn’t the case, Telangana could already have been a reality by now, for the first announcement on it was made as ear-ly as on 9 December 2009 by no less a person than P Chidambaram, then Home Minister. That he reneged on the promise in less than two weeks tells another story. That it took three-and-a-half years and a full-fledged people’s agitation for the Congress to make yet another announcement on Telangana tells the story even more clearly.

However, the politics of the decision need not detain us here. The simple point is that it is a good decision even though it has been arrived at through a process of self-serving logic. Good intentions can sometimes lead to bad results (as BJP’s In-dia Shining campaign did in 2004) and du-bious intentions sometimes result in good decisions. Telangana is a case in point.

The first thing to emphasise is that Te-langana is not the end. Once you accept the

logic of smaller states, you have carry it through: we need smaller states and India could conceivably have at least 50 states, including city-states. In Maharashtra, it should mean not just Vidarbha, but Mum-bai as a charter city, a city-state with its own rules.

Nor does the logic of smaller states end with their mere creation. We don’t just need smaller states, but more empowered states. Smaller states without greater eco-nomic and constitutional empowerment can amount to nothing. It’s like giving a hungry man a plate with no food on it. The ultimate reasoning behind smaller states is empowerment. India needs to become an Empowered States of India – ESI, to be short – and not just a Union of States, as the Constitution says without giving states enough powers.Let’s start with the impor-tance of small first.First, smaller states mean key decisions will be taken closer to the ground. Just as Delhi should not take decisions on food security for Chhattis-garh, Mumbai should not decide what is good even for Vidarbha, where farmer sui-cides have blotted the landscape endlessly. Solutions to Vidarbha lie closer in Nagpur.Second, administering large and diverse states is more complex and probably inef-

ficient as well, though there can be econo-mies of scale in some ways. Size cuts both ways. But it stands to reason that politics can be much more focused when the ad-ministrative area and population are of manageable proportions. Just as XXL size corporations become bureaucracies, XXL states are inherently inefficient.

Indian states are simply too big for their own good. Even after the creation of Telan-gana as the 29th state, the average Indian state will have 42 million people – though actual sizes vary widely from the 200-and-odd million of Uttar Pradesh to states such as Arunachal, with just a few thousand people scattered all over.

The European Union, with as many states as India currently (28), has an aver-age per-country population of 18 million. The 50-state USA has an average state pop-ulation of just 6.25 million.

While we need not compare apples and oranges, the short point is that smaller states bring the rulers and the ruled closer to one another physically and emotionally – and in a democracy that is a very good thing.Pro Telangana Congress leaders: ReutersPro Telangana Congress leaders: ReutersThird, a key reason why smaller states are better is that smaller states re-duce diversity. And that too is a good thing. High diversity makes for complex politi-cal and administrative calculations. The whole point of creating linguistic states in the 1950s was that they would improve administrative efficiency. Consider how difficult it would have been to administer the Bombay Presidency with at least two major languages (Marathi and Gujarati), or the Madras presidency (with four major linguistic groups to manage – Tamil, Telu-gu, Kannada and Malayalam).

The logic now needs to extend down-wards. Diversity is not only about language but economic and cultural diversity too. Coastal Andhra has a different economic

culture compared to Telangana. Vidarbha is different from Marathwada and western Maharashtra or coastal Maharashtra or Mumbai. Resources cannot be efficiently allocated when there is so much diversity since the power structures so created will hijack them for their own ends.

Smaller states will not eliminate politi-cal or policy paralysis, but they will ensure that excess diversity is not the reason for such paralysis. The story of India’s current political logjam – where regional powers try to block or hijack central resources for their own ends – does not bear repetition in the larger states.

The other point about smaller states is empowerment. Once again, the case of Te-langana is instructive.

Unlike Vidarbha or North Bengal or Jharkhand (which was carved out of Bi-har), Telangana’s problem is not distance from the power centre (Hyderabad is bang in the middle of Telangana); it is a com-plete disconnect with the power structure that paid obeisance to politicians from the richer coastal districts of Andhra.

How did the development needs of one of the poorest regions of Andhra (Telangana, excluding Hyderabad) get ignored despite having the power centre right there?

India is ahead of the world in prison reforms: Kiran Bedi

KOLKATA: India leads the world in prison reforms even though the jails here are not as secure as those in the West, for-mer IPS officer KiranBedi has said.

“India is ahead in prison re-forms. I am making a confirmed statement as I visited more than 40 prisons around the world. The reforms which we have been able to do are not seen elsewhere,” Bedi told reporters here.

In town to promote upcom-ing Hindi film ‘Calapor’ which is based on prison reforms, Bedi said jails in the western coun-tries are very secure as they fol-low the rulebook strictly.

“Jail breaks are therefore

i m p o s s i b l e there. But in India that is not the case. I think it has got something to do with our culture which believes in r e f o r m i n g c r i m i n a l s and not just p u n i s h i n g them. They (the West) believe in punishment but we believe in re-forms,” said the first woman IPS officer of the country, who was awarded the prestigious Magsay-say Award for humanely admin-istering Tihar jail.

Comparing jails in India with other countries, she pointed out that here we have rightly replaced the word prison with correc-tional home.

Prison re-forms work on

a PPP model where prison offi-cial, politician and people repre-sented by the civil society group come together, she said.

“I have seen that NGOs are always ready to come. Prison of-ficials must welcome them along

with the politician,” Bedi said. Recalling her stint as the In-

spector General of Prisons in Delhi’s Tihar Jail during 1993-1995, the retired officer said she had an amazing experience.

“It is regarded as punishment posting but I think for me it was a god send opportunity because I went where my heart was,” she said. Describing prison as a township, she said it becomes a violent city without reforms.

Releasing this Friday, ‘Calapor’ stars Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta and actor Priyanshu Chatterjee.

Showing how jail reforms can change the society, the thriller is set in the backdrop of a jail.

Digvijaya Singh slams Shivraj Singh Chouhan over

mining controversyCongress General Secretary

Digvijaya Singh on Sunday at-tacked Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over the mining controversy in the state and asked him to show courage and face a no confidence motion.

“Madhya Pradesh BJP scared of facing no confidence motion moved by Congress. 7 cases of cor-ruption of CM’s relations to be ex-posed. Would he show courage,” Singh commented on the microb-logging site Twitter.

His comments came a day after the Congress Legislature Party leader in Madhya Pradesh Ajay Singh asked the chief minister to resign immediately on moral grounds.

Digvijaya Singh slams Shivraj Singh Chouhan over mining con-troversy

Digvijaya Singh slams Shivraj Singh Chouhan over mining con-troversy

“Chouhan should also imme-diately sack Mineral Resources

minister Ra-jendra Shukla and Technical education and Public Relations minister Laxmi-kant Sharma,” he had said.

During a raid on two i n f l u e n t i a l Bhopal -based b u s i n e s s m e n Dilip Suryavan-shi and Sudhir Sharma, the in-come tax depart-ment had recov-ered diaries which had entries claiming that the two ministers had been paid bribes. The case is now being probed by CBI and En-forcement Directorate.

Singh claimed that complaints against the two ministers are pending before the state Lokayuk-ta but the Chief Minister has not accorded sanction against the two yet.

The Congress leader alleged Chouhan has remained a mute spectator to the corruption in his government and this indicated his involvement in the corrupt practices.

Madhya Pradesh is due for polls later this year and the state is witnessing a slug fest between the ruling BJP and the Congress for wresting power in the state.

Telangana on track, now Mayawati wants 4-way Uttar Pradesh split

Lucknow: Hours after the Congress set the ball rolling for the creation of a new Telangana state, Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has reiterated that the large state of Uttar Pradesh should be split into small-er states to facilitate better governance.

Ms Mayawati, who is a former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, is a vocal champion of carving the state into four - Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Her government, which preceded the current Samajwadi party government headed by Akhilesh Yadav, had passed a resolution in the Uttar Pradesh assembly for this.

The Samajwadi Party, however, oppos-es splitting the state.

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“Central ministers from Uttar Pradesh should pressurize the Centre for the division of the state,” Ms Maya-wati said today.

She also supported the demand for sepa-rate statehood for Gorkhaland in Bengal and Vidarbha in Ma-harashtra.

Those demands have drawn new energy from the Congress Working Committee’s endorsement yes-terday of the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh to create India’s 29th state, Telan-gana.

Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar, who is a member of the Congress Working Com-mittee, has written to party president Sonia Gandhi to press for the creation of Vidarbha. And in Bengal, moves to create Telangana have sparked off fresh protests in favour of Gorkhaland.

Narendra Modi eyes Obama in battle for cyber world

AHMEDABAD: Gu-jarat chief minister Nar-endra Modi seems out to prove he is more popular than US President Barack Obama — at least on social networking sites.

Having faced a defeat at the hand of the US presi-dent in November 2011 when Modi lost following a last-minute spurt in neg-ative votes in the fifth an-nual Mashable awards in the category of ‘Must-Fol-low Politician On Social Media’, the Gujarat CM now wants to get back.

By January, Modi’s cyber-army is scripting an architecture that would ensure that his likes on Facebook and followers on Twitter cross Obama’s score — 3.64 crore ‘likes’ on Facebook and 3.45 crore followers on Twitter.

A fortnight ago, the close-knit IT cell of the BJP had sent special online forms to all Modi fan pages on Face-book asking them to ‘merge’ into the main parent fan page. This would mean all the ‘likes’ on various indi-vidual pages run by Modi fans would get converted into ‘likes’ on the Guja-rat CM’s FB page.

The BJP team had held meetings

with administrators of various Face-book fan pages in Delhi recently and have sought their approval — a move to ensure that the ‘likes’ increase on Modi’s fan page.

Today the official fan page ‘Naren-dra Modi’ on Facebook has garnered 26.05 lakh ‘likes’. Sponsored Face-book page ‘Narendra Modi for PM’ has 12.45 lakh ‘likes’ with 13,000 ‘likes’ adding every week.

This site also has 4.71 lakh fans

talking about ‘Naren-dra Modi for PM’, much more than the official site. Another site spon-sored on Facebook is ‘Namo India’ which too has garnered 2.4 lakh ‘likes’ in a short time.

“We have a team in Hyderabad which has been paid for the job. ‘Narendra Modi for PM’ will merge into the offi-cial campaign fan page once Modi’s name is of-ficially declared by the BJP. Besides this, Every MLA in Gujarat and out-side the state has been asked to manage their Facebook pages and gar-ner ‘likes’. Some MLAs have been given the tar-get of almost 1 lakh likes on Modi’s parent page,” says a senior BJP func-

tionary.This experiment will be repli-cated on Twitter as well. “If you click the lakhs of followers on Modi’s fan page on Twitter you will notice that many of the accounts have not even tweeted once. There are close to 4.13 lakh such accounts on Twitter. These were created by the BJP’s IT cell and some techies who used special soft-ware to create these accounts,” says a member of BJP’s IT cell.

If Shatrughan quits BJP, we won’t stop him, says CP Thakur

The BJP on Wednesday threatened to take action against party MP Shatrughan Sinha for saying Bihar Chief Minister Nit-ish Kumar was “PM material”.

Bihar BJP leader C.P. Thakur said action would be taken against Sinha for the indis-cipline.

He said if Sinha quit the BJP, the party would not stop him and it would not be a loss for the party.

He also said both Nitish and Shatrughan were great actors.

Sinha on Tuesday had said that the JD-U leader was “certainly PM material”.

Sinha said Nitish Kumar was a nice hu-man being and a man of principles. “He is a

mature politician and a good man.”Asked about the possibility of

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi becoming the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Sinha said while Modi was his “dearest lead-er” and popular nationally, Nitish Kumar “is complete PM material”.

Last week too, Sinha said he fa-voured L.K. Advani over Modi for the top post.

The JD-U had recently ended its alliance with the BJP, saying it did not support the party making Modi chief of its election campaign com-mittee.

Delhi gangrape: SC asks Swamy to inform JJB to defer verdict involving juvenile

New Delhi, Jul 31 (PTI) The Supreme Court today said that the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) be informed not to pronounce its verdict on the alleged role of a minor in the December 16 gan-grape and murder case, till it decides a PIL seek-ing fresh interpretation of the term 'juvenile'.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasi-vam asked Janata Party president Subramani-an Swamy to inform the JJB on this issue and posted his case for hearing on August 14.

Advocate Anoop Bhambani, appearing for the juvenile, opposed Swamy's plea and sought more time to file response to his petition.

The Centre also opposed Swamy's plea, saying a third party should not intervene in a criminal case and any decision taken by the apex court in this case cannot be applied retrospectively.

The bench, however, said the issue raised in the petition needs to be examined along with

maintainability of the plea.Swamy has sought that the "mental and intel-

lectual maturity" of minor offenders be consid-ered instead of the age limit of 18 years while fix-ing their culpability.After the apex court had on July 23 agreed to hear his plea, the JJB had de-ferred till August 5 the pronouncement of its ver-dict on the alleged involvement of the juvenile accused in the December 16 gangrape and mur-der case.The juvenile was one of six persons who had gangraped a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus here, according to the prosecution. The victim died in a Singapore hospital on December 29.Of the other five accused, four--Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay Thakur--are facing trial before a fast track court. Proceedings against key accused Ram Singh abated after his death on March 11 when he was found hanging in his cell in Tihar Jail here.

Don’t link Telangana decision to demand for new states: Digvijaya Singh

Bhopal: Amidst rising clamour for new states in the backdrop of Telangana decision, senior Congress leader Digvi-jaya Singh today said such demands have to be dealt with separately as every region faces different geographical and socio-economic issues.

“Well the demand for formation of new States has to be dealt separately be-cause of the difference in the geographi-cal and socio-economic status and other issues (in regions seeking statehood),” he told reporters outside the Madhya Pradesh Congress office here.

“So, therefore, decision on one state cannot be the reason for giving other re-gions the statehood,” the Congress Gen-eral Secretary maintained. ”Every case has to be seen in its own perspective,” he said when asked about demand for creation of states like Gorkhaland, Bun-delkhand and Vidarbha, among others.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy with AICC Gen-eral Secretary Digvijay Singh leaves PM's residence after the UPA meeting on Telangana in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy with AICC Gen-eral Secretary Digvijay Singh leaves PM’s residence after the UPA meeting on Telangana in New Delhi on Tuesday.

PTIYesterday, the Congress

and UPA gave nod for carv-ing out Telangana state from Andhra Pradesh. Singh, in-charge of Congress affairs in Andhra Pradesh, was involved in hectic consulta-tions which preceded the momentous decision.

On opposition within the Congress on the issue of cre-ation of separate Telangana, Singh said “bifurcation of any state is always a very unpleasant task. But now we are talking to all sections from Andhra/Rayalaseema regions and Telangana and requesting them to have pa-tience.”

“All the issues raised in them would be addressed by the Government of In-dia and we shall take into confidence the state leadership of both Telangana and Andhra so that the best package is given to all sections of the society.”

He refuted the charge that tim-ing of the decision on Telangana was politically motivated. “Timing is not very important. The decision has been

taken after consultation with all con-cerned. There is no relation whatsoever with elections.”

On the issue of capital of Telangana and Andhra/Rayalaseema, Singh said there is no confusion in this regard.

“Hyderabad shall be the joint capi-tal for ten years. Andhra/Rayalaseema will have to in the meantime develop a

well planned capital city on the lines of Chandigarh and Gandhinagar,” the Con-gress leader said.

Reacting to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi‘s statement on Telanga-na, Singh said, “Modi should ask senior BJP leader L K Advani why they did not agree for a Telangana State when they (NDA) were in power.

SP leader Shivpal Yadav backs Akhilesh action against SDM Durga

Even as pressure mounted on the Akhilesh Yadav government for withdrawal of the suspen-sion of Gautam Buddha Nagar sub-divisional magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal, the state executive committee of Samajwadi Party on Wednesday backed the govern-ment’s “firm disciplinary action” against officer.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, PWD minister Shivpal Yadav said that the conduct of the officer was highly ob-jectionable, as it was fraught with serious com-munal trouble. He said the issue had come for discussion at a meeting, attended by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, chief minister and other leaders.

Nagpal, a 2009-batch IAS officer, was sus-pended a few days ago for ordering demolition of a wall at a religious place. However, opposition parties have alleged that the suspension was done to appease the mining mafia against whom the SDM had launched a crackdown in recent times.

Strongly refuting the mining mafiosi theo-ry, Yadav said the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque in the village was a “highly irresponsible” act for which the officer had been punished.

“(The) mining issue is not at all involved in punishment to the officer,” Yadav repeatedly as-serted. He said some forces had been misleading the people to serve their vested interests.

Claiming that a conspiracy was hatched by

some people to create communal trouble in the minority-dominated village, Yadav said that the of-ficer rushed to demolish the wall instead of investigating into the complaint of “outsiders”.

Issuing a stern warning to of-ficers to be careful in dealing with communally-sensitive areas, Ya-dav said slackness in this connec-tion would not be tolerated.

To a question about SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav asking for revoking for the suspen-sion, Shivpal said he (Ramgopal) had asked for probe and now the government would decide the further course of action.

“She had done a wrong had thus been pun-ished,” Yadav said and added there was no objec-tion of the farmer on whose land the wall was being constructed.

He said the government had given full pro-tection and liberty to honest officers to discharge their duty.

The tone and tenor of Yadav amply reflected that the government was unlikely to give any relief to the officer immediately. Nagpal had already reported to the board of revenue office, Lucknow where she would be attached during her suspension period.

Earlier, addressing a separate press confer-ence, BSP chief Mayawati had assailed the gov-ernment for harassing an honest and dedicated officer. Mayawati said the SP government had launched reign of terror against honest officers.