Bandipora, July 02:

In a bid to nail down cul-prits and speed up the in-vestigation into the case of killing of two youth in Bandipora district, police Tuesday called an impor-tant eyewitness for ques-tioning.Reports said that soon after the driver Manzoor Ahmed Shiekh son of Ab-dul Rashid Shiekh resident

of Markundal, Sumbal re-vealed before media that he was accompanying the 13 RR contingents when they killed Irfan Ahmed Ganaie in cold blood, po-lice swung into action and called him for questioning at police station Sumbal.“We have not arrested Manzoor but only called him for questioning. In a sense, you can say that he

See Arrested on Pg. 11

New Delhi, July 02:

Pakistan-based militant groups have intensified their infiltra-tion attempts along the border in Jammu and Kashmir where around 300 terrorists continue to be active, according to the Home Ministry.In a presentation at the meeting of the Consultative Committee for Home Ministry today, it said ef-forts from Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir based elements to spawn enhanced level of vio-lence in the state by scaling up in-filtration and smuggling of arms and ammunition from across the LoC continue."In 2012, 264 terrorists attempted infiltration from across the LoC as compared to 247 in 2011. Also, there was a rise in instances of suc-cessful infiltration as compared to previous years with 121 terrorists entering Jammu and Kashmir in 2012 as compared to 52 in 2011," the Home Ministry told the Consulta-tive Committee members.Meanwhile, ministry sources said there have been increased at-tempts by militant groups based in PoK to send extremists into Jammu and Kashmir in recent weeks.Though few militants have been successful to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir, most of the infiltra-tion attempts have been foiled by

security forces deployed along the border, sources said citing intelli-gence inputs.They said as of now around 250 to 300 militants are active in the state and are waiting for opportu-nities to disturb peace in the state.Besides, there were incidents of violation of ceasefire along

the Line of Control by Pakistani troops ostensibly to facilitate infil-tration into Jammu and Kashmir.Last fortnight, eight Army sol-diers were killed and 11 others injured in a gunfight with a group of terrorists in Bemina on the out-skirts of Srinagar.

See MHA on Pg. 11

Mukhtar Shah

Ganderbal, July 02: In what can be termed as clear flouting of the or-ders of Hon’ble J&K High Court, the senior bureau-crats and politicians are busy in constructing their palatial mansions all along the river Sindh. The orders of the Hon’ble court clearly specify that no constructions are al-lowed on the banks of riv-er Sindh to save it from the encroachments and pollu-tion as the majestic river not only is the source for potable water for lacs of people but also irrigates a huge area from Sonamarg till it merges with the river Jhelum. Keeping its importance and util-ity in view, the Hon’ble J&K High Court twice on 10/6/2011and 3/7/2012 passed orders on a public interest litigations ban-ning all kind of construc-tions on its banks. How-ever, the bureaucrats who are to implement the or-

ders instead chose to flout these orders in brazen manner and send the sig-nals to others to follow the suit. A senior bureaucrat who was Divisional Com-missioner Kashmir is presently constructing a house on the banks of riv-er Sindh at Zurpora, Kul-lan and duties of carrying the construction work is being looked after by one of his PSOs. Similarly, a minster has constructed a hut at Wussan again mak-ing a mockery of the court orders. If this is being done openly in violation of court orders by the senior govt. functionaries, what can be expected of them in honoring other orders safeguarding the Dal and other places of ecological importance? Same thing happened with Dal Lake wherein the rotten system did not allow the court or-ders to be executed in let-ter and spirit, consequent-ly resulting into slow and gradual journey towards

See Construction on Pg. 11

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

CMYK

WedneSdAY July 03 | 2013 | 23 Shaban 1434 AH | PAGeS 12 | VOL nO: 3 | ISSUe nO: 159 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGe FOR JAMMU /deLHI/LeH 50 PAISA)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&K

MHA: Militants Increase Infiltration Bids

Jammu, July 02:

Ruling National Con-ference will emerge as a force to reckon with in 2014 as the party will sweep the ensuing Par-liament and Assembly polls across the state, the party's provincial president Devender Singh Rana said on Tuesday."National Conference will emerge as a force to reckon with in 2014 elections," Rana said during public meet-ings in Nagrota con-stituency of Jammu district.He referred to his re-cent visit to far-off areas of the Jammu region and said the enthusi-asm among people gave him confidence that "National Conference will sweep the ensuing parliamentary and as-

sembly elections across the State".Hitting out at Bharati-ya Janata Party for de-manding the abolition of Article 370, Rana said the party will stand like a rock to de-fend the state's special status and make "de-structive, divisive and communal elements lick the dust".Recalling the state's glorious traditions of amity, peaceful co-ex-istence and tolerance, Rana said the Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh, Mo-hammed Abdullah had strived all his life to nurture this spirit of unity in diversity.This is the legacy which will be carried forward with same vigour and those coming in its way will find their politi-cal space shrinking, he said.

Srinagar, July 02:

Germany on Tuesday said it fully recognises the legiti-mate institutions in Jammu and Kashmir and will not take any position on Kash-mir issue that can be seen as interference. "German position on Kash-mir is (has) not changed. We will not take a position which can be in any way seen as an interference," German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner told reporters here. He said his visit to the state is an endorsement of legiti-macy of the institutions in Jammu and Kashmir. "We, of course -- and I do this by coming here to Sri-nagar, recognise fully the legitimate institutions in Kashmir," Steiner said. He said the focus of Ger-man efforts in Jammu and

Kashmir is to help the state prosper. "We concentrate ourselves on helping Kashmir to prosper and to get into an exchange with us. We are not here in politics on this issue," he added. Steiner expressed condo-lences to the families of those killed in firing inci-dents in Kashmir in the last two days. "Every life lost is a trag-edy for us all. I pay my respects to those who lost their lives on Sunday and Monday in Kashmir and express my heartfelt con-dolences to their families," he said while addressing students of Kashmir Uni-versity here. The Ambassador said the restrictions on travel to Kashmir were eased couple of years ago and it remains the same. "Of course, we tell

our citizens to remain vigi-lant." There has been no change in the advisory on travel to Kashmir following the exe-cution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru earlier this year, Steiner added. "There has been no change in the travel advisory. At least I would have known, if there had been one," he said. Germany was the first Eu-ropean country to modify its negative travel advisory on Kashmir in 2011."The good news is that we will change the (visa) sys-tem. We will outsource huge parts of the system to get visa. This will start in half a year," German Am-bassador to India Michael Steiner said here during an interactive session with students of Kashmir Uni-versity.

Steiner admitted that the present system of obtaining a German visa was cum-bersome for people living in areas where there is no embassy or consulate of the country.He said the new system will allow the German embassy to reach out to places where it has no presence as of now."We will then be present in places where we don't have a general consulate or em-bassy including Srinagar. So that should be much easier," he said.He said changes in the visa regime will need some time to be effected."Give us some time be-cause it is a very compli-cated process. We cannot totally renounce on visa (regime) because, other-wise, the social system in Germany will not (be able to) carry it," he said.

nC to sweep upcoming polls in J&K: Rana

Germany will not interfere in Kashmir: Envoy

Agencies

New Delhi, July 02: India and Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to hold a third round of meetings on outstand-ing bilateral issues in next two to three months, after a small pause in the wake of the beheading of Indian soldiers by Pakistani Army in January.This was announced after a meeting between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Pakistan Prime Minister’s Special Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on the sidelines of ASEAN Foreign Minis-ter’s meet in the capital of

Brunei, a first high-level meeting after the new gov-ernment in Pakistan took over.Speaking to media after the meeting, Mr. Aziz said “We

have reviewed the various steps in the CBMs (confi-dence building measures) and in the composite dia-logue that has been going on. We discussed ways of

fast tracking them, because this is the part both sides want to accelerate, and this (meeting) is in response to that.”“We have agreed for differ-ent groups to meet in the next two to three months. People-to-people contact, visa relaxation regime has already been agreed. Trade meetings will also take place.“There are number of steps being taken up and we hope that the two PMs (Prime Ministers) can meet hope-fully on the sidelines of the United Nations General As-sembly in September, if not

See Talks on Pg. 11

India, Pak agree for talks on bilateral issues

despite ban, construction on the banks of river Sindh continues

http://www.zabarwantimes.com

New Delhi, July 02:

A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to Jammu and Kashmir and others for holding elections for the Bar Council in the state to remove discrimination against local lawyers. The Advocates Act, 1961, which has been made ap-plicable to Jammu and Kashmir in 1986, provides for Constitution of the State Bar Council, the petition filed by Bhim Singh, senior advocate and leader of J&K National Panthers Party, said. "The Bar Council of J&K, though, forms part of the Bar Council of India (BCI), yet there is no elected body of lawyers in the state of J&K," the PIL said, adding since 1986, the state Bar Council has been headed by the Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir with other HC

See PIL on Pg. 11

PIL for Bar Council elections

Senior bureaucrat flouts High Court orders

Bandipora killings: Eyewitness arrested

Srinagar, July 02:

Under massive pressure, the police is being asked not to register a FIR in a case of gambling involving high and mighty.It has come to fore that scores of gamblers arrested from a Hotel on Lasjan By-pass belong to affluent

See Gambling on Pg. 11

Power Brokers Caught In Gambling

Cabinet approves Court for SoporeSrinagar, July 02: The Cabinet which met here Tuesday under the Chairmanship of Chief Min-ister Omar Abdullah accorded sanction to the establishment of Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge at Sopore and creation of 14 posts thereof including post of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jr. Scale Stenographer, Nazir, Reader, Civil Ahlimad, Crimi-nal Ahlimad, Copyist, Jamadar, Process Server-cum-Orderly, Chowkidar and Safaiwala.The Cabinet also approved upgradation of the post of Joint Development Commis-sioner (Works) as Development Commissioner. He will have administrative and financial powers of major head of the department. He will be In-charge of Planning, Monitoring, Quality Control and Technical Supervision of various sec-tors of R&B, PMGSY and other Non-Engineering Departments which have their own technical wings and execute huge civil works. He will coordinate work-ing of Chief Engineering on the analogy of Development Com-missioner Power. The Chief Engineer R&B and PMGSY will route their proposals with regard to planning, monitoring and implementation of projects through Development Commis-sioner Works.

Three injured in Tral explosionTral, July 02: At least three persons including a child were wounded when a grenade went off at the site of encounter in South Kashmir’s Mandoora vil-lage of Tral town.Reports said that police and Para-military troopers were busy in removing the debris at the encounter site in Mandoora village. Local people were also present there. Suddenly a live grenade went off in which three people including a child was injured.The injured were immediately rushed to nearby hospital. The injured have been identified as Mohammad Shafi Bhat son of Ghulam Nabi and Khurshid Ahmed Bhat son of Abdul Rehman both residents of Mandoora Tral. The child who received injuries is from Sonawar, Srinagar who was identified as Mohammad Asif son of Shakil Ahmed.Police soon after the explosion secured the area and did not al-low anyone to proceed towards the encounter site.Pertinently, three militants and a policeman were killed in Mandoora encounter.Meanwhile, complete shutdown was observed in Tral to mourn the death of three militants. Shops, Schools and business establishments remained closed while thin vehicular movement was seen plying on the roads.

Official arrested for accepting bribeSrinagar, July 02: A state government official was arrested today after he was caught accepting bribe to clear a tender for some works in the Keran sector of north Kashmir's Kupwara district, a spokesman of the State Vigilance Organisa-tion (SVO) said here. Head Draftsman in Rural De-velopment Department (RDD), Kupwara, Bashir Ahmad Mir, was caught red-handed while accepting bribe from complain-ant Ghulam Ahmad Malik of Haiyan village in Trehgam, the spokesman said. "During the tendering process, works were allotted to the com-plainant, but was learnt that the head draftsman had not depos-ited the documents in his office, though being transferred. "The complainant had ap-proached the head draftsman who demanded Rs one lakh bribe for handing over the rel-evant papers. An amount of Rs 5,000 was to be paid upfront and the remaining in installments," he said. The official was caught red-handed by SVO officials

See Bribe on Pg. 11

Bhalla inspects SPS MuseumSRINAGAR, JULY 02:

Minister for Housing, Hor-ticulture and Culture, Raman Bhalla inspected the on-going renovation work of SPS Mu-seum, here today and issued instructions to the executing agency to speed up the pace and accomplish the project well within the stipulated time frame. Bhalla laid stress on maintaining the quality of work strictly as per the laid down specifications. He di-rected the Managing Director, J&K Police Housing Corpora-tion to personally monitor the project on day-to-day basis to ensure its timely comple-tion. He stressed the need for close coordination between agencies for achieving better results.The Minister said that it is endeavor of the Govern-ment to preserve State’s rich culture and heritage for the coming generations as well as visitors from different parts

of the globe, adding that State has rich treasure of heritage which needs to be preserved in a scientific way. He said the new building which will house SPS museum will at-tract millions of tourists to see the varied culture of Jammu and Kashmir. He said Government has taken sev-eral measures to preserve all the ancient historic sites and monuments which are cen-turies old and highlight the rich civilization.The Minister was apprised that total cost of the new building of SPS Mu-seum was Rs. 66.64 crore and first phase which comprises construction of building has been completed with an ex-penditure of Rs. 30.74 crore. The second phase involves interior designing, museum shop, children activity room, conservation lab, introduc-tory gallery etcon modern lines and as per international standards. This will involve

Rs. 35.90 crore and is slated to be completed by mid- 2014. He was apprised that work is in full swing efforts will be made for its completion in time.The Minister was fur-ther informed that at present there are 28 places and struc-tures which have been de-clared as State heritage sites and Department of Archives has been maintaining them. These sites include ancient temple and spring at Kothiar Anantnag, HariParbhat Fort, Srinagar, Bahufort in Jammu, Bhimgarh fort in Reasi, Samba fort, Mubarak Mandi heritage complex and Mughal Sara-iChingus in Rajouri etc. The work on their proper preser-vation is in progress, the Min-ister was told.The Minister also inspected the old muse-um and evinced keen interest in the ancient and priceless treasure. He called for proper upkeep of each item of great historical significance.

SRINAGAR, JULY 02:

To provide electricity fa-cility to remote and far-flung habitations of Budgam dis-

trict, Minister for Agriculture, Mr Ghulam Hassan Mir today directed the NHPC to con-nect all these habitations un-der Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) by the end of Sept, 2013.

The direction to this ef-fect was given at a high level meeting, convened to review the progress of implementa-

tion of RGGVY programme in the district which was chaired by the Minister here this afternoon.

Principal SecretaryPDD,

A. K. Mehta, Deputy Commis-sioner Budgam, Khursheed Ahmad Shah, Chief Engineer PDD, Muzaffar Ahmad Mattu , representative of NHPC and other senior officers of the PDD attended the meeting.

The Minister directed the NHPC to speed up installation of the required infrastructure in these rural habitations and

install electric transformers as per the load.

The Minister directed the Chief Engineer PDD to improve the supply posi-

tion of electricity in the district as the percentage of dam-aged transformers in the district is on the higher side than oth-er districts. He said that local legislators have already released substantial amount under Constituency Development Fund for modernisation of

electricity distribution sys-tem including upgradation of transmission lines in their respective constituencies.

The Minister was assured that necessary steps are be-ing taken in this direction and the funds allotted by the concerned legislators for the purpose would be spent as per their priorities.

SRINAGAR, JULY 02:-

Saying that the present coalition Government has set into motion a golden era of development, the Min-ister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs today said that coming years will be a turnaround in socio-economic transformation of the State.“An un-precedented era of development and peace has dawned in the State during the current dispensation under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah”, Rather said while addressing a public gathering at Tul-sibag in Srinagar today. He said every possible resource is being mobilized and pooled to provide basic facilities to the people with focus on equitable opportunities of development and uniform justice to poor and backward areas. He said Government is abreast with the problems of the people and no stone will be left unturned to re-dress their grievances. Rather said provision of responsive, accountable and transparent Governance is one of

the top priorities of the Government adding that landmark laws including RTI, PSGA and Vigilance Commission have been enacted by the present

Government for this purpose. “Enact-ment of these laws is sequel to Gov-ernment efforts to provide corruption free governance to the people” Mr

Rather added and asked the people to avail benefits of these laws. He said 69 services have been brought under the ambit of PSGA.Referring

to the un-employment problem, the Minister said all possible means are being explored to create job avenues in both public and private sectors. He said there are about 6. 50 lakh regis-tered educated un-employed youth in the State and government has already fast tracked recruitment process to fill up existing vacancies in different departments. Besides, SKEWPY, En-trepreneurship development and skill upgradation training programmes have been launched to enable youth set up their income generating units for dignified livelihood under self-employment programme.

Rather said, in view of the pri-mary importance of road connectiv-ity in socio-economic transformation of the society, the Government has under taken a massive programme to construct roads and bridges in nook and corner of the State. “Now each and every village having a population of above 250 souls shall essentially be connected with road network under PMGSY”, Rather added.

You may be tormented by an important decision today, Aries. The good news is that once you make up your mind, you will feel much better about yourself. Until then, however, you may vacillate from one side to the other. Asking others for advice may put you in even more of a quandary. The only one who can decide your path is you.

Watch your back today, Gemini. There’s a distinct presence nearby that requires your attention. Luckily, your emotions are a lot more stable than usual, and you’re more strongly connected with your feelings. In fact, you may be in the clouds. You shouldn’t have any problem navigating through this part of the atmo-sphere. Others may look to you for advice.

You may look confused today. It may be hard for you to stick with one subject. Your attention may jump from one thing to another. That’s OK. There’s a distinct advantage to seeing all sides of the story. You will have greater perception and awareness of things today. Take this opportunity to put yourself in other people’s shoes so you know how to deal with them in the future.

You may find it difficult to keep things neat and or-ganized today, Leo. It seems like you’re tying to organize a room full of feathers buffeted by gusts of wind. Buy a paperweight. Meanwhile, you might want to give up or-ganizing the feathers and deal with it another time. You may feel too lazy to fight the wind.

Your expansive, outwardly directed plans are mov-ing at full force, but once in a while self-doubt slows things down, Virgo. Today is one of those days in which insecurity may hamper your progress. The secret to success is to consider all the options and trust your in-stincts. Use your keen powers of observation to collect data and arrange facts in an orderly fashion.

The stars will compel you to clarify your position within the collective, Libra. You have a lot of power when you’re part of a group, but you’re sometimes clum-sy about communication. You can’t always succeed. The planets’ positions will have a beneficial impact, and you will tend to put your life under the microscope.

You’ve always wanted to change the world, and you’d like to share your dreams with your friends, Scorpio. But today you don’t have enough enthusiasm to fulfill these dreams. You will question your personal strategies. You shouldn’t try to convince others all the time. Your friends appreciate you just the way you are.

You have the tendency to plan everything, Sagit-tarius. You need to feel in charge of things. Today you should try to listen to others around you. Let yourself go for a while, even though you aren’t used to it. Further-more, you need to develop your personality. You can do this by opening up to others.

You’re attracted to eccentric individuals with very strong personalities. But realize that behind this attrac-tion lies a very strong need for freedom, Capricorn. In your life, freedom is more fantasy than reality. The time has come for you to do some soul searching. Try not to hide from the realities of your life.

Today will destabilize you, Aquarius. You’re trying to rebuild your life on new foundations. Perhaps should you try to change your point of view. Also, you need to preserve your perception, because it will allow you to adapt to all situations. You need to be fully alert and pre-pared at all times. Try not to become discouraged.

You have a tendency to get very involved in your projects, Pisces. Today the stars will compel you to clarify your situation. It’s already clear that you aren’t afraid to work long hours to ensure that your projects end in success. But your entourage will probably have difficulties keeping up with you. You’re too full of en-ergy.

You may be a little hesitant today, Taurus, and not really sure why. Just when you thought you had it all figured out, another aspect comes up with a completely different perspective. It may be hard to choose one path and stick with it. Keep in mind that your unique path may incorporate many different side paths. This is one of your many gifts.

People aware about machinations of divisive forces: Rather

Jora flags off fleet of 12GHV to lift door to door garbage

Sagar asks youth to serve humanity

Wholesale traders call on CM

Mir reviews rural electrification under RGGVY in Budgam

SRINAGAR, JULY 2:

Minister for Urban De-velopment and Urban Local Bodies Nawang Rigzin Jora Tuesday flagged off the first batch of 12 Garbage Hopper Vehicles (GHV) purchased at a cumulative cost of Rs 48 lakh by Srinagar Municipal Corporation for door to door garbage collection in Srinagar city. The GHV were flagged off from New Secretariat Gate this afternoon.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that the Hopper Vehicles with a ca-pacity of 1.8 cubic meters are compatible with the Garbage Compacting Machines (GCM) which can move in narrow lanes and by-lanes in the city and dispense the collected garbage automatically into the GCMs; therefore, reduc-ing the manual intervention and improving effectiveness of work delivery mechanism and efficiency.

Jora said that the ser-vice of these hopper vehicles will be utilized initially in 12 wards of the Corporation,

adding that another batch of 22 more hopper vehicles shall be added to the existing fleet of SMC within next two month so that all the 34 ad-ministrative wards get similar facility. Approximately 1.87 lakh households of Srinagar City shall be covered under the scheme in phased man-ner, he announced.

Jora said that all the open garbage sheds in city should be provided with dumper bins by March 2014 and no garbage should be visible on the road sides.

The Minister said that SMC has already taken initiative to encourage the households, restaurant owners, hoteliers, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions to segregate garbage into bio-degradable and non-biodegradable com-ponents for waste segregation as envisaged in Solid Waste Management Rules 2000. He said segregation is also con-ducted on the road sides by Municipal Safai Karamcharis and the rag pickers of the SMC.

Commissioner SMC, Dr. G.

N Qasba said that the SMC is committed for implementa-tion of Solid Waste Manage-ment Rules 2000 for effective, scientific and environment friendly disposal of waste in Srinagar City. He said besides this, in order to improve sanitation management of SMC, 2,700 Karamcharis of the Corporation are also engaged to work on Sundays and holidays with incentives of two and half day pay in addition to their salaries as reward for additional work per month.

Dr Qasba said that the process of segregation of Bio-Non-Degradable Municipal Waste has been started at various levels since December 2012. He said that with regard to the segregation at sources, 15,770 plastic bins with mov-ing lids have been provided to the Ward Officers for dis-tribution amongst various households in Srinagar city falling under the jurisdiction of SMC, adding that the list of beneficiaries’ stands uploaded on SMC websitewww.smcsite.org.news.

SRINAGAR, JULY 02:

The Minister for Rural De-velopment and Panchayati Raj, Ali Mohammad Sagar has said that the youth of the State should understand the true spirit of Islam and contribute in propagating its message of gaining quality knowledge for improving the lot of hu-man existence.The Minister was speaking at a two day Na-tional Seminar on “Muslim Re-sponse to Modern Education: Approaches and Prospects” or-ganized by the department of Islamic Studies, Islamic Univer-sity of Science and Technology (IUST), Awantipora. VC IUST, Prof A. R. Trag, Commissioner Secretary Agriculture, Dr. Asgar Samoon and various other aca-demicians and scholars were also present. Sagar said that the State Government has tried to provide every opportunity to Muslim youth to excel in differ-ent fields. He said that we have a good lot of bio-technologists, scientists, engineers; CEOs and IT sector professionals who

have exceled in their respec-tive fields and are also practis-ing Muslims.Complementing the University for holding such types of seminars, the Minister said that we have to use vari-ous institutions of learning for propagating the message that Islam and other branches of knowledge are two faces of the same coin and balanced ap-proach can help us to develop in every field for the benefit of humanity that Islam lays so much emphasis on.Referring to the advent of Islam in the Valley, the Minister said that it was due to the efforts of Su-

fis who through knowledge and love were responsible for propagating Islam. He said Islam preaches tolerance and mutual coexistence and gain-ing knowledge is one of the important parameters of it. Prof Trag while speaking on the occasion gave a brief over-view about the University and the contribution of Muslims in various fields especially edu-cation.Dr. Samoon also spoke and gave an account of historic uniqueness of Kashmiri Cul-ture, advent Islam in this part of the world and general over-view about Islamic thought.

KISHTWAR, JULY 02:

Minister of State for Industries and Commerce and Home, Mr Sajjad Ahmed Kichloo, on his two days visit to far flung area of Warwan in Kishtwar District laid the foundation stone of Inshan-Basmina-Motorable road.People of Warwan re-gion gave a warm and enthralling wel-come to the Minister. Speaking on the occasion Kichloo announced that the motorable road to Marwah via Margon Top will be completed by October this year and with this the long pending demand of people of this region will be fulfilled.The Minister also inspected the on-going progress of PuranaKadal Bridge on Warwan-Marwah Road at Sarkandoo. While taking stock of the work the Minister instructed the offi-cials present to complete the Bridge in a time bound manner ensuring high-est standards of quality and safety. He said that the Government is commit-ted to provide road connectivity to all inaccessible and remote areas as it is the basic requirement for the development of the region. The Minister said that with bet-ter road connectivity, other amenities like Health, Education etc can be developed and expanded easily.Kichloo also chaired a high level meeting of District and Sec-

toral Officers at Guzar Inshan and called upon the officers to work hard to uplift the people of this backward region. He told the officers that it is their responsibility to ensure multi-dimensional development in these backward areas as people there had suffered a lot due to backwardness, illit-

eracy, militancy and lack of awareness.He urged the officers that due to short work-ing season and tough topographical condi-tions, very limited time to complete all the on-going developmental worksis available and hence efficiency and accountability of officers and engineers becomes all the

more significant. The Minister expressed his concern over the non-functioning of some Schools and Health Care Units of Warwan Marwah belt. He passed strict in-structions to the concerned ZEO and CMO Kishtwar to look into the matter and take necessary action in this regard.

The Minister also took stock of working of NRHM, IAY and MGNRE-GA and other schemes and stressed for proper implementation of these schemes. He instructed the Chief Ag-ricultural Officer to frame a compre-hensive plan for potato cultivation and poly houses for this remote area. About Horticultural sector the Minis-ter observed that this region is perfect for Walnut and apricot production therefore the Horticultural Depart-ment and Rural Development Depart-ment should dovetail their respective schemes and ensure the plantation of best quality fruit trees, soil testing and other research activities for taping this huge potential.The Veterinary Depart-

ments were also directed to ensure proper functioning of their centres and provision for artificial insemination for the livestock. Similarly PHE Department was directed to cover the left over villages through water supply schemes so that people get safe and clean drinking water in the region.

Demand warehouse facility in Srinagar

SRINAGAR, JULY 02

A deputation of Whole-sale Traders Association led by its President Nisar Ahmad

Kathichu Tuesday called on Chief Minister, Omar Abdul-lah here and presented him a memorandum of demands pertaining to the develop-ment of trade and commerce

in the State.Briefing about the demands, the deputation fo-cused on the necessity of hav-ing a warehouse for whole-sale traders in Srinagar on the pattern of the one exists in Jammu.Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, B. B. Vyas and Commissioner Secretary Industries, Shantmanu was present in the meeting among other officers.The Chief Min-ister directed the Commis-sioner Secretary Industries to identify suitable sites for de-

velopment of warehouse for the traders of Srinagar to help them flourish the trade activi-ties and help in enhancing job opportunities for youth.

Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS Srinagar |TueSday 03 .7 .2013

Motorable Road to Marwah this year: Kichloo

E ++HHEAAL L HH5 ZABARWAN TIMES

WEDNESDAY | 03 JULY 20138 ZABARWANTIMES

Exercise keeps body and mind healthy

Exercise is not just good for physi-cal health, but it can also boost our mental health, say experts.Now, a new study has explored psychosocial factors that may help to explain connection be-tween physical activity and mental health.Karin Monshouwer of the Trimbos Institute in the Nether-lands and colleagues at Trimbos and VU University Medical Cen-ter specifically wanted to examine two existing explanations for the link between exercise and mental health.The self-image hypothesis suggests that physical activity has positive effects on body weight and body structure, leading to positive feedback from peers and improved self-image, and ultimately im-proving mental health.The social interaction hypothesis, on the oth-er hand, holds that it's the social aspects of physical activity - such as social relationships and mutual support among team members - that contribute to the positive ef-fects of exercise on mental health.Monshouwer and her colleagues surveyed over 7000 Dutch stu-dents, ages 11 to 16. The adoles-cents completed validated surveys aimed at assessing their physical

activity, mental health problems, body weight perception, and par-ticipation in organized sports.The researchers also gathered data on the adolescents' age, gender, and socioeconomic status; wheth-er they lived at home with their parents; and whether they lived in an urban area.The researchers found that ado-lescents who were physically inac-tive or who perceived their bodies as either "too fat" or "too thin" were at greater risk for both inter-nalizing problems (e.g., depres-sion, anxiety) and externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, sub-stance abuse). Adolescents who participated in organized sports, on the other hand, were at lower risk for mental health problems.Confirming both the self-image hypothesis and the social inter-action hypothesis, adolescents' body weight perception (i.e., "too heavy," "good," or "too thin") and sports club membership each par-tially accounted for the relation-ship between physical activity and mental health, even after taking adolescents' backgrounds into ac-count.These results suggested that certain psychosocial factors - body

image and social interaction - may help to explain at least part of the connection between physical ac-tivity and mental health. The re-searchers acknowledge, however, that other factors, such as the physiological effects of exercise, are probably also at work."We think that these findings are important for policymakers and anyone who works in healthcare or prevention. Our findings indi-cate that physical activity may be

one effective tool for the preven-tion of mental health problems in adolescence," said Monshouwer.Monshouwer and her colleagues hope that future studies will be able to examine similar questions while following participants over time. Such longitudinal studies could help researchers to under-stand how physical activity type and context might influence the relationship between exercise and mental health.

Did you know that walking not only helps you to lose weight but also prevent di-abetes and breast cancer? Read on to know the health benefits of walking. Walking is said to be a great exercise which has proven to be an excellent fat burner. If you walk at a steady pace for 30 to 45 minutes at least six days a week along with a healthy diet, you will gradually witness a change in your weight. There are several benefits of walking. Some of them are as follows-

Walking regularly at a good speed improves your mus-cle strength and endur-ance and also helps build stamina. It is good for your heart. Walking is known to reduce your blood pres-sure, improve your blood circulation and all round cardio vascular functions. Walking is said to be good for your bones. It is a great way to strengthen your bones. Walking about 30 minutes a day increases your bone density and slows down bone loss in your legs. This low-impact exercise

is also said to target your spine, legs and hips. It pro-motes mental well-being. Known as a great stress-buster, if you walk outdoors, the combination of fresh air and exercise is an excellent way to boost your morale and mood. Helps prevent type 2 diabe-tes. Studies have revealed that walking approximately 150 minutes per week can reduce the risk of diabetes. Reduces the risk of colon and breast cancer. Last but not the least, walking is said to be safer than running.

Deep sleep turns on puberty

Slow-wave sleep or 'deep sleep' is intimately involved in the complex control of the onset of puberty, a new study has suggested. The many changes that oc-cur in boys and girls dur-ing puberty are triggered by changes in the brain. Previous studies have shown that the parts of the brain that control puberty first become active dur-ing sleep, but the present

study shows that it is deep sleep, rather than sleep in general, that is associated with this activity. "If the parts of the brain that activate the repro-ductive system depend on deep sleep, then we need to be concerned that inad-equate or disturbed sleep in children and young ado-lescents may interfere with normal pubertal matura-tion," Natalie Shaw, lead

researcher from Harvard, said. "This is particularly true for children who have been diagnosed with sleep disorders, but may also have more widespread im-plications as recent studies have found that most ado-lescents get less sleep than they require," she said. In the study, research-ers examined pulses of luteinizing hormone (LH)

secretion in relation to specific sleep stages in children ages 9-15. LH is essential for reproduction and triggers ovulation in females and stimulates the production of testosterone in males. They found that the major-ity of LH pulses that occur after sleep are preceded by deep sleep suggesting that deep sleep is intimately in-volved in pubertal onset.

Green benefits of fruits and veggies

Fruits and vegetables give you high nutrition and low calories. They have enor-mous therapeutic value with their rich nutritional composition, high fibre and water content and boost immunity, improve stamina and protect us from several health prob-lems.Research shows di-ets containing substantial amounts of varied veg-etables and fruits reduce chances of cancer by 20 per cent and of stroke and cardio vascular disease by 60 per cent.Helps in weight management Be-

ing low in calories and fat content and high in fibre, micronutrients and an-tioxidants with a high satiety value, they help in weight management. They work as fillers and can be treated as free foods with the exception of potatoes, sweet pota-toes, jimikand and arbi, which must be used in moderation.Keeps BP in controlOwing to their high po-tassium and low sodium content, intake of fruits and vegetables is recom-mended for BP patients.

4 Foods for a raging libido

If you feel that your relationship is turning from deeply-in-love to boring, it isn't because you want to make it dull.The reason is that you simply find yourself in no mood for romance. Grab these foods to spice up your relation-ship and sex life.The reasons for a lacking libido can range from too many things on your to-do list and working too many hours to your hormones being out of whack. This is where food plays a role. Here are four delicious items you can work into your diet that will increase your libido, and help you work out of your clothes...

1. WatermelonCoined 'the new Via-gra', watermelon con-tains citrulline, an amino acid that relax-es blood vessels there-

by increasing your sex drive.

2. AparagusAsparagus is high in the B vitamin folate that helps increase your production of histamine. Histamine is important for in-creasing the sex drive in men and women.

3. AvocadosLoaded with potas-sium, avocados boost libido for both sexes. And they're rich in fo-lic acid that provides energy and stamina - both of which are important once your libido is restored.

4. ChilliesIf you like it hot and spicy, this one will bring a smile on your face! Chillies contain capsaicin, a chemical which also increases blood flow and triggers the release of mood-en-hancing endorphins that naturally pump up your libido.

Top 10 exercises to boost your brain powerYou keep your body active by doing regular workouts. Similarly, your mind also requires certain brain fit-ness workouts that can help your mind process information more quickly. This increases your abil-ity to perform multiple tasks at the same time.To help you achieve this, you will find simple but effective brain train-ing games and exercises such as solv-ing math problems to achieve great-er mind fitness. Include this brain stretching exercise in your daily rou-tine to get boost your brain power. Here are the top 10 daily brain exer-cises that can help you stay mentally sharp at any age. Art projects: Art is a great source of exercise for your brain, as it helps to boost that part of the brain that works without words and can only express itself non-verbally. Art requires you to be creative, use fine motor skills, and think analytically. Hence, art encourages the brain to think out of the box, and trains your brain to think on different planes. All this while being fun as well. Expand your vocabulary Learn new words, sign up for news-letters, read articles closely, and list out words that you are not familiar with. This technique will help you out-smart the conversation with your boss, as well as sharpen your memo-ry, by increasing your vocabulary.

Use your non-dominant hand While doing basic tasks which re-quire no concentration, try using the non-dominant hand; say if you are right-handed, try using your left hand to eat, brush etc. This activity will require extreme at-tention, and you will find yourself focusing on completing these simple tasks.

Do your own math For your daily calculation, do not use calculators. Instead, opt for the old fashioned mental math. As we grow older, it gets difficult to do even the normal math in our heads and we opt for calculators. It's better not to take the help of the calculator, and do math in your head. This is a very common way to

keep your brain active. If you are not good at calculations, then put in som practicez Listen to your favourite song again and again If you like a specific song, keep listen-ing to it over and over again as this will help your brain memorize the lyrics and after some time you will know the lyrics of the entire song.

This activity will help your brain boost its memorizing power. Multi tasking is good for you Performing activities like working at the computer, putting your little sis-ter to sleep, listening to music, solv-ing math etc - all at the same time, requires a lot of attention. All these are simple basic activities, which can be done together; but, dis-

tractions can cause confusion. Prac-tise multi tasking simple tasks so that it increases your concentration levels. Study a foreign language The advantage of learning a new language is that it is a great source of exercise for the mind and it's a great way to boost your professional career as well. Further, people who have knowledge of foreign languages are always in great professional de-mand. Besides, studying something new always keeps your brain busy. Skip GPS - Opt for maps Thanks to new technology, reach-ing an unknown destination has become very easy. However, we are becoming too dependent on these technologies as we are losing our mind's power of analysis. We need to stop letting these gadgets do all our tasks for us, and use maps instead. This utilizes your imagination and analytical skills. Use a brain training video game When you are free or when you have nothing to do, engage in playing video games. Not all video games are brainless. Some video games like Halo, would require lots of reason-ing and thinking. Engaging in play-ing games like this or even solving Sudoku puzzles will help your brain power develop. Avoid using a shop-ping list Always shopping with a list in hand is a simple job. The real task begins when you memorize all the things in your head and then do the shopping.

NATION DAILY ZABARWAN TIMES

7 SRINAGARWednesday, July 03, 2013

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SC refuses to change the dates of West Bengal Panchayat polls

New Delhi: In a setback for the Mamata Banerjee govern-ment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Panchayat elections dates in the state. The elections are scheduled to be held in five phases from July 11 in the state.

An NGO had moved the Su-preme Court seeking a change in West Bengal panchayat poll dates arguing that elections will take place within the month of Ramzan. Members of the Mus-lim community on Monday took a procession in Kolkata demand-ing that panchayat election dates be rescheduled so that they do not coincide with the fasting month of Ramzan.

Prominent leader of the com-munity and state president of All India United Democratic Front Sid-diquallah Chowdhury told reporters that hundreds of Muslims marched to the State Election Commission office and submitted a memoran-dum to the officials in the absence of State Election Commissioner Mira Pandey, who has gone to Del-hi. The procession, he said, started from Mullick Bazar in the central part of the city.

An NGO had moved courtseek-

ing a change in West Bengal Pan-chayat Poll dates arguing that elections will take place within the month of Ramzan.

“We are not against the five-phase polling, but we are against voting during Ramzan month. Polls are usually associated with violence and at a time when Muslims will be observing fast such kind of environ-ment would pose problems. We are deeply worried,” he said.

Chowdhury, who is also the state general secretary of the Jami-

at-e-Ulema-Hind, said several or-ganisations under the banner of All India United Democratic Front also marched from the Mullick bazar crossing on the issue. He said that his organisation would also be writ-ing a letter to the Governor and the Chief Minister in this regard.

He claimed that when they had met Pande one and a half months ago, she had assured them of look-ing into their demand. Chowdhury, however, said Muslims are not giv-ing a vote boycott call.

He accused the state govern-ment of not properly taking up the issue in the Supreme Court. Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said Chief Minis-ter Mamata Banerjee was aware of the problems the community would face and that was why the government was approaching the Supreme Court.

The ruling Trinamool Con-gress had said it will also move the Supreme Court on Monday for an amending order to de-fer the elections as the Muslim holy month begins in the second week of July. “We will approach the Supreme Court on Monday seeking an order that the pan-chayat polls should not be held during Ramadan,” Trinamool

Congress leader Sultan Ahmed had said. Ahmed added that the state government will support the move.

The apex court on June 28 had rescheduled the poll dates and di-rected the SEC to conduct the exer-cise in five phases starting from July 11. A bench of justices AK Patnaik and Ranjan Gogoi had directed that the election be held on July 11, 15, 19, 22 and 25. The poll was earlier scheduled to be held in three phases from July 2.

There’s difference in what ‘dictator’ Mamata says and what she does, alleges Trinamool MLA

A Trinamool Congress legislator has revolted against the firebrand party su-premo and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, accusing the latter of being a dictator.

Talking to Headlines Today on Tues-day, the MLA from Chowringhee con-stituency - Shikha Mitra - said the Tri-namool runs on dictatorship and no one can speak in the party.

9 most explosive Mamata missiles“I am in the party for five years and

I knew Mamata raised voice against wrongdoings. But I realised it was not that way. There is difference in what she says and what she does,” Mitra said blasting the chief minister.

“The party runs on dictatorship. No one can speak... only one lady can

speak. Leave or be ready to be insulted if you raise voice,” she said.

Attacking her leader further, the MLA said, “There is insensitivity to-wards the cause of women. There was heckling in assembly so imagine the condition of the state. I too feel afraid. Then they say it is conspiracy.”

Pulling up the state government, Mitra said, “There are only talks, no work. The administration is busy blam-ing others. Anti-social elements are on the rise.”“I am unable to work because I speak anti-party... Even my security will go for election purpose,” she said.

The MLA did not rule out quitting the party, saying, “I will change my par-ty or not depends on time... Everything is possible.”

Congress and JMM hold talks on government formation in Jharkhand

RANCHI: With Presi-dent’s Rule scheduled to end in Jharkhand on July 18, JMM and Congress leaders today held talks on the possibility of for-mation of a government in the state.

AICC General Sec-retary Shakeel Ahmed, Congress in-charge of the state B K Hariprasad, JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat and CLP leader R P Singh called on JMM supremo Shibu Soren and his son, Hemant.

“They called on Gu-ruji (Shibu Soren) and Hemant Soren to discuss government formation,” JMM General Secretary Suprio Bhattacharya said here.

A Congress leader said Ahmed, Prasad and some other party lead-ers would leave for Delhi to carry on the dialogue with the JMM there amidst heightened possi-bility of government formation with the support of RJD and some independent MLAs.

“I will tell you tomorrow,” Hemant Soren, a former deputy chief minister, said when asked about the initiatives on govern-

ment formation. RJD’s Legislature Party

leader Annapurna Devi, said, “We don’t know anything about their initiatives on government formation. Nobody has contact-ed us.”

“Why didn’t they take this initiative after President’s rule was imposed? Why this de-layed?” she asked.

She, however, said, the party would abide by RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s directives.

With 36 MLAs -- JMM (18), Congress (13) and RJD (5) -- Con-gress and the JMM leaders were banking on the support of some independent MLAs for a simple majority of 42 in the 82-member Assembly.

A couple of independent MLAs had been in the erstwhile BJP-JMM coalition government in the state before the JMM withdrew support on January 8 this year, leading to the imposition of central rule on January 18.

Evacuation process in Uttarakhand over, bad weather halts cremation of bodies

Rescue operations to evacuate stranded pilgrims on Tuesday came to an end in disas-ter-hit Uttarakhand with a group of 150 being safely taken out from Badrinath while bad weather hampered the cremation of bodies in Kedarnath area for the fourth day.

Officials said rescue of pilgrims was over in the state and evacuation of locals will be gone gradually with the restoration of the road network.

The administration is now focusing on supplying relief to worst-hit areas as foodgrain shortage was being reported in 170 villages.

ISRO’s prediction on June 16 on Uttara-khand floods | Also read: UN says over 11,000 missing | India Today interactive on Uttara-khand floods: The Tandava

With the road network washed away in many areas, a patrol party has been sent be-

yond Gaurikind along with PWD gang-men to clear the debris in order to reach the cut off villages.

Chamoli District Magistrate S.A. Murugesan said, “All the pilgrims strand-ed in Badrinath dham have been evacuat-ed. Now some locals and Nepali labourers remain there who will be evacuated by this evening if the weather permits.”

However, the cremation of bodies ly-ing in Kedarnath could not be done for the fourth day today due to bad weather.

DGP Satyavrat Bansal said a 200-member team of medical experts and police personnel had left for Kedarnath to help in the task of cremation of bodies but bad weather in the area has stalled the work.

Around 65 bodies are lying in the Kedar-nath area.On the 17th day of the calamity, the

number of bodies cremated there so far is still pegged at 36.

Murugesan that supply of relief to affected villages continues to pose a challenge to the administration with a vast network of roads

and bridges still damaged in the area.The bridge over Alaknanda at

Lambagar is badly damaged which will take at least 2-3 months to be re-paired, he said, adding that the BRO is working on it.

Officials saidw taking relief mate-rial to remote villages due to poor con-nectivity is a major problem.

Though choppers are being used for the purpose the exercise is confined to just a few areas, they said.

With Gaurikund-Kedar Highway still closed, there is foodgrain shortage in at least 170 villages in Kedarghati

area in Rudraprayag district, officials said.But relief material has been dispatched to

Kalimath, Chandrapuri and Sauri areas in the district.

Sujatha Singh to be next Foreign Secre-tary; name cleared by PM’s office

New Delhi: Sujatha Singh, currently India’s envoy to Germany, will be the next For-eign Secretary following an approval of her appointment by Prime Minister Manmo-han Singh, ending months of speculation on who will head the foreign services.

59-year-old Ms Singh, a 1976 batch IFS officer, was a close contender for the top job along with India’s Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar, who is a batch junior to her. Jaishankar’s name was doing the rounds for the post because of his excel-lent service record, particularly as envoy to China.

Due to retire in July next year, Ms Singh will now have

a two-year extension and will succeed Ranjan Mathai who is set to retire on July 31.

Ms Singh, the third wom-an to head the services after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao, is the daughter of TV Rajeshwar, the former Intelli-gence Bureau Chief known to be close to the top brass of the Congress.

Ms Singh is the wife of for-

mer Secretary (East) Sanjay Singh, who retired in April this year.

There were reports that she, along with other diplo-mats senior to Jaishankar, were contemplating resigning if he was elevated. Finally, the Prime Minister plumped for seniority.

Her name was cleared after the Prime Minister re-turned from his Kashmir visit last week. Though Sujatha Singh has not done any dip-lomatic stint in India’s neigh-bourhood. Though she was the Under-Secretary looking after Nepal from 1982-1985 before her postings in Europe which include Italy and France.

India turns down Snowden asylum request

NEW DELHI — India said Tuesday that it had refused an asylum request from fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, joining Poland in publically rebuffing him as he seeks an exit from a Moscow airport.

“Our embassy in Moscow did receive a communication dated 30 June from Mr Edward Snowden. That communication did contain a request for asylum,” foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told AFP.

“We have carefully examined the request. Following that exam-ination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the request,” he added.

Transparency campaign group Wikileaks said Monday that Snowden had submitted asylum requests to 21 nations including India, Russia, China and Brazil as well as his preferred destinations Ecuador and Iceland.

The Kremlin announced Tues-day that he had abandoned his bid to stay in Russia after learning of demands from President Putin

that he stop leaking intelligence reports.

Snowden, whose passport has been revoked by the US, has been holed up and in legal limbo in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for more than a week trying to find a safe haven.

Elsewhere in Asia, a spokes-woman for China’s foreign min-istry Hua Chunying said Beijing had been “following the develop-ments” but declined to comment further.

“I’ve seen some reports of his petition for political asylum in some countries but I have no in-formation about that,” Hua said.

The US wants Snowden, who has leaked information about the

National Security Agency’s vast Internet and phone sur-veillance programmes, extra-dited so he can be put on trial.

India, which has moved closer to the United States since signing a landmark nu-clear power pact in 2008, has also defended Washington’s surveillance programmes.

“Some of the information they got out of their scrutiny,

they were able to use it to prevent serious terrorist attacks in sev-eral countries,” Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters in Brunei in a broadcast inter-view.

“This is not scrutiny and ac-cess to actual messages. It is only computer analysis of patterns of calls and emails that are being sent... it is not actually snoop-ing on the content of anyone’s messages or conversations,” he added.

Norway, Austria and Poland were among the first to confirm they had received asylum re-quests from Snowden. Warsaw immediately rejected the request.

A complaint was filed with the local police against the up-loading of an objectionable picture of Congress president Sonia Gandhi by a BJP activist on a social networking website.

A facebook user, Sandeep Bhalla, has allegedly uploaded a morphed picture of Congress party chief on the website with offensive comments.

Sanjay Sehgal, a Congress worker has lodged a complained against the BJP activist with cy-ber crime police.

BJP state president Kamal Sharma while condemning the act said, “Our party respects women and such acts will not be tolerated. If our party worker is involved than disciplinary ac-tion will be taken against him.”

‘It is not actually snoop-ing’: Salman Khurshid on

US surveillanceNEW DELHI: Exter-

nal Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday defend-ed the vast US surveillance programme under which India is the fifth most tracked coun-try, saying, “it is not actually snooping”.

“This is not scrutiny and access to actual messages. It is only computer analysis of patterns of calls and emails that are being sent. It is not actually snooping on specifi-cally on content of anybody’s mes-sage or conversation”, Khurshid, who is currently in Brunei to attend series of ASEAN meetings, told re-porters.

“Some of the information they (the US) got out of their scrutiny, they were able to use it to prevent serious terrorist attacks in several countries,” he said.

The remarks are in contrast with that of the ministry, which had ini-tially termed as “unacceptable” any privacy violation after whistleblower Edward Snowden, a former technical

assistant for the CIA, had blown the lid off US’ National Security Agen-cy’s secret spy programme.

As per the leaked documents, India has emerged as the fifth most tracked country by the US intelli-gence which used a secret data-min-ing programme to monitor world-wide internet data.

Meanwhile, quoting the latest documents provided by Snowden, The Guardian newspaper reported over the weekend that US intelli-gence services were also spying on 38 embassies and diplomatic mis-sions of its allies that included India.

Complaint against BJP mem-ber for uploading Sonia Gandhi’s

morphed picture on website

CBSE official heading AIEEE exam accused of leaking paper, corruption

A Central Board of School Edu-cation (CBSE) official who was overseeing AIEEE till last year has been accused of revealing the ques-tions paper via text messages. The CBSE official has also been accused of allowing an online AIEEE test centre in Kota, Rajasthan.The All In-dia Engineering Entrance Examina-tion (AIEEE) has now been replaced with the Joint Entrance Examination (Main) from this year.

The government has asked the

CBI to investigate into the case of disproportionate assets against the official, who is accused of amassing huge wealth.The Central Vigilance Commission had received an anony-mous complaint against Pitam Singh, CBSE director of special examina-tion, CBSE.The human resource development ministry had conducted an inquiry into the case earlier.

The anonymous complaint also said that Singh’s wife who was running a chain of Mothers Pride schools in the capital had shown inflated number of students in her school to explain the disproportion-ate assets of the family.

Singh had denied the allegation saying it was part of professional jealousy and he was being framed in the case.