page 1.indd - Earth News

Jai Mata Di
FRIDAY
22 May
2015
Jammu-India
Pages:12 ` 3.00
Peace comes from within. Do not
- Buddha
seek it without.
Regd No:JK517/13-15
RNI No:- JKENG/2013/53265
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Saka: 01 Jyaistha 1936-37
WORLD
Bikrami: 08 Jeth 2071
P-8
NATIONAL
UK PM David
Cameron
to unveil
immigration
curbs on eve
of EU meeting
GLEANINGS
Rajab : 31 1436 AH
P-7
KASHMIR
Cairo: Saudi shells hit an international aid office in Yemen on Thursday
killing five Ethiopian refugees, a local
official said, while efforts continued
to mount peace talks between exiled
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s
government and Houthi rebels. The official said that 10 other refugees were
wounded when artillery fire and air
strikes hit the town of Maydee along
Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia in
Hajja province, a stronghold of the
Iran-allied Houthi group that a Saudiled Arab alliance has been bombing
for eight weeks. Brigadier General
Ahmed Asseri said there was no coalition activity in the area. “If the report
is correct, it would be the responsibility of the Houthis, ,” Asseri told.
Pak rejects reports
on selling nukes
Islamabad: Amid reports that
Saudi Arabia has taken a “strategic
decision” to acquire “off-the-shelf”
nuclear arms from close ally Pakistan,
the government here today rejected
as “baseless” any such move to sell
atomic weapons. Pakistan’s Foreign
Office spokesperson Qazi Khalillulah
at a news briefing here said “Pakistan’s nuclear programme was purely
for its own legitimate self-defence
and for maintaining a credible
minimum deterrence”. The ‘Sunday
Times’ of London had recently quoted
unnamed senior US officials as
saying that Saudi Arabia had “taken
the ‘strategic decision’ to acquire
‘off-the-shelf’ atomic weapons from
Pakistan”.
New Delhi: Greenpeace India
on Thursday claimed it has seen a
surge in donations from well-wishers
and its own staff after the central
government froze its local bank accounts and blocked it from receiving
foreign contributions. Greenpeace
India executive director Samit Aich
on Thursday said since 9 April, the
organization has got donations from
2,800 new donors. Similarly, in June
2014, when an intelligence report
had called it a ‘threat to national
economic security’, Greenpeace had
got 4,000 new donors. Aich released
a letter from his staff in which they
have promised to work without pay in
June. The organization, which employs
around 340 people in India, had
earlier warned that it will be unable
to continue operations with its bank
accounts blocked.
Vaishno Devi pilgrim
dies, other injured
Jammu: A pilgrim of Mata Vaishno
Devi died of heart attack in Katra
town of Reasi district today, a police
officer said. “Pawan Kumar (48), a
resident of Haryana, who had come
on a pilgrimage to the cave shrine
fell sick and was taken to a hospital,
where he was declared brought
dead,” the officer said. Meanwhile, a
woman Chitra Kumari (22), resident
of Faridpur in Bareli of Uttar Pradesh
got injured, when she accidentally slipped into a gorge outside the
Vaishno Devi Cave Shrine on way back
to Katra, along with her family after
paying obeisance at the cave shrine,”
police here said.
Weather Report
EARTH NEWS SERVICE
Srinagar, May 21|15: In
order to overcome increased
demand of power during holy
month of Ramzaan and peak
summer season in Jammu,
Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today issued directions to Power Development
Department (PDD) to purchase
additional 250 MW of power.
He also asked the PDD to put in
place an institutional mechanism to check pilferage and
improve recovery so that the
burgeoning gap between power
purchase and revenue realization is reduced.
The Chief Minister issued
these directions while chairing
a high-level meeting to review
working of the Power Development Department (PDD), here
today.
Terrorism needs to be
condemned unequivocally
20 °C 34°C
41°C
27°C
42%
17%
11%
30%
65km
88km 88km
79km
0%
6°C
21°C
28°C
85%
36%
17%
14°C
53%
24km
0%
64Km
0%
30km
0%
24km
0%
Deputy Chief Minister, Dr.
Nirmal Singh, Minister of State
for Power, Mohammad Ashraf
Mir, Chief Secretary, Iqbal
Khanday, Principal Secretary,
Recovery of
heroin goes
up to 8 kg
Preeto Devi’s
Interrogation at JIC
EARTH NEWS SERVICE
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
Jammu, May 21 |15: It was
this day, May 21, many years
ago, that the former Prime
Minister, Mr Rajiv Gandhi,
was targeted by Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
and killed. A woman, Dhanu,
became a suicide bomber strapping a bomb to her body and
detonating it, blowing up Rajiv
Gandhi into pieces.
It is one of the most infamous
suicide bombings in India’s
history. It raised a question in
the minds of rationale people:
Is anybody safe in the country?
From terrorism? If a former
PM could be targeted in this
manner by terrorists, anybody
was fair game.
The nation then rose up collectively and decided to tackle
terrorism firmly. Today, the
LTTE is no more considered a
threat and has been liquidated,
both in India and Sri Lanka.
LTTE leader V Prabhakaran
was killed and thousands died
defending him. His earlier
larger than life image, based on
LTTE’s brutal methods, could
not save him.
The heavy price of violence,
perpetrated by LTTE against
Rajiv, had to be paid by fellow Tamils, and now there is
no sympathy for alien Tamils
among common Indians, aside
from some Tamils. This sea
change was brought about by
Rajiv’s killing.
Today, the day is celebrated as
Anti-Terrorism Day throughout the country. It only hardens the countrymen against
those deemed to be terrorists or
those believed to be using their
methods.
Closer home, in Jammu and
Kashmir, we lost two politicians to terrorism on this day.
Many, many years ago, Maulvi
Mirwaiz Farooq was killed by
some terrorists for he was considered a moderate separatist.
Moderate by the standards of
those who killed him for espousing the cause in the manner in which he did.
About a decade earlier, we
lost Abdul Gani Lone who fell
to the bullets of terrorists. Ironically, he was participating in a
function to commemorate
  Contd on Page 2

Jammu, May 21|15:Police
recovered more heroin and cash
following the disclosures of wife
of late Sarfu –a notorious narcotic smuggler here on Thursday. Police today claimed to
have recovered 5 packets rising
recovered consignment weight
to over 8 kg and cash Rs 4.49990
lakh after the disclosures of
Preeto Devi wife of infamous international trans-border smuggler Sarfoo.
  Contd on Page 2
e-mail: [email protected]
SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY
Kohli
reviews
functioning
of State
Motor
Garages
Planning, B. R. Sharma, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister,
B. B. Vyas and Principal Secretary PDD, Sandeep Nayak attended the meeting.
Calling upon Principal Secretary PDD to ensure that uninterrupted electricity is provided to
people during fasting month of
Ramzaan, especially sehri and
iftaar, Mufti Sayeed said he will
examine the issue of increasing power purchase allocation
of PDD. He said the additional
purchase will also augment
power supply in Jammu providing much needed relief to people
from scorching summer heat.
  Contd on Page 2
P-11 YOUTH
P-10
Manna of
Chandigarh bags
Katra-Nelay Kesari
dangal
LHC
smashes
energy
record
with test
collisions
Efforts underway to resume
talks with India: Pak
AGENCIES, MAY 21|15
Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign
Office spokesman Qazi M Khalilullah on Thursday said that
the dialogue process with India
has not resumed as yet, but efforts were underway to resume
the talks, as “good ties with
neighbours are a cornerstone of
Pakistan`s foreign policy”.
Relations between India and
Pakistan have been complex
due to a number of historical
and political events. Relations
between the two states have
been defined by the violent partition of British India in 1947,
the Kashmir conflict and the
numerous military conflicts
fought between the two nations.
Consequently, even though the
two South Asian nations share
linguistic, cultural, geographic,
and economic links, their relationship has been plagued by
hostility and suspicion.
Talks were to be held at the
level of foreign secretaries in
Islamabad in August last year,
but were cancelled by the Indian
Government after Pakistan`s
envoy to India Abdul Basit met
with Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi a couple of
days before the official engagement was to take place.
New Delhi had then said that
Islamabad had to make a choice
between engaging with the legitimate representatives of India or
with separatists. The Pakistan
Government, on the other hand,
blamed New Delhi for sending
the bilateral dialogue process
backward with their hardline
  Contd on Page 2


Defence Minister, Army Chief arrive today
Parrikar likely to visit
LoC and Siachen
EARTH NEWS SERVICE
Leh, May 21|15:
Defence
Minister Manohar Parrikar will
arrive here tomorrow on a twoday visit to review security situation in Jammu and Kashmir,
during which he is expected
to visit the Line of Control and
Siachen and meet Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
“The Defence Minister will arrive on a two-day visit to Jammu
and Kashmir tomorrow,” Udhampur-based Defence spokesman Colonel S D Goswami
informed. He said the Defence
Minister will be accompanied

by Army Chief General Dalbir
Singh Suhag and General Of-
ficer Commanding-in-Chief of
Northern Command Lt Gen D
S Hooda during the visit which
will cover all three regions of
the state.
The Defence Minister will arrive in Leh tomorrow morning
where Lt Gen V S Negi, General
officer Commanding of 14 Corps,
will brief him about the situation along the Line of Control on
Pakistani side and Line of Actual Control along the Chinese
side, the spokesman said.
Col Goswami said Parrikar
will then fly to Srinagar,
  Contd on Page 2

Geelani’s passport application PHE XEn suspended for fake
incomplete, says MEA
appointments of daily wagers
AGENCIES, MAY 21|15
Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said
that an incomplete passport
application was received from
hardline Hurriyat leader Syed
Ali Shah Geelani. It also said
that fees was not paid and that
biometric details and photographs were not submitted. The
MEA added that Geelani’s application could not be processed in
its present form, as per ANI.
Earlier, amid a row over hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali
Shah Geelani’s plea for passport, the Union Home Ministry
today had said that the request
would be processed on ‘merit’ as
the travel document is the ‘right
of every Indian citizen’.
Sources had said that the Min-
istries of Home Affairs and External Affairs would take a decision on the issue in consultation
with Jammu and Kashmir only
after Geelani visits the nearest
passport office for biometrics.
And Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar, meanwhile, had said
Geelani would have to write ‘Indian’ in the nationality column
to apply for the passport.
“Passport is the right of every
Indian citizen and is issued by
the Ministry of External Affairs
after following due process. In
case any applicant applies for
the passport, he should fulfil all
the formalities before his case is
processed. As and when the matter is referred to the Ministry of
Home Affairs, we will process
  Contd on Page 2

EARTH NEWS SERVICE
Srinagar, May 21|15: Min-
ister for PHE, Irrigation and
Flood Control Sukhnanan Kumar ordered the suspension
of an executive engineer over
the alleged fake engagement of
260 unpaid need based casual
labourers in the Public Health
Engineering (PHE) Mechanical
division North, Sopore.
“During a preliminary inquiry it came to fore that the
Executive Engineer had prepared a list of 260 workers and
furnished the same to Superintending Engineer, PHE Mechanical North and when the
latter sought clarification as
to why in January 2014, when
the physical verification of the
need based or causal workers
was conducted, these 260 work-
ers were not shown to which
the Executive Engineer did
not give any reply,” an official
spokesman said.
He said this was viewed seriously by the Minister who
ordered the suspension of the
then concerned Executive Engineer. Meanwhile, the minister
also ordered the attachment of
Executive Engineer PHE, Division Poonch with Deputy Commissioner, Poonch till further
orders.
The order has been issued following act of non-compliance of
the directions of the minister,
the spokesman said adding the
Charge of the Executive Engineer PHE Division Poonch
shall be held by the Executive
Engineer Irrigation and Flood
Control Poonch.
Gharana Wetland: Bird-watchers paradise
Shivang Satya Gupta
Editor-in-Chief
0%
P-3
Mufti orders purchase of Addl
250 MWs for uninterrupted power
Greenpeace India
staff to work for free
0%
STATE
P-5
Have best
talent available in Govt
schools, need
to harness
it: Naeem
Centre may
send strong
message
to AAP govt
in Delhi on
its duty
www.earthnews.in
ERA asked to prioritize projects on solid waste management
Saudi shells hit
Yemen aid office
0%
Volume: 2 Issue: 252 
W
hen seen in perspective Jammu region
has been blessed
with abundance of natural
habitats of all hues making it
truly a tourist’s favourite destination as it is here where a
tourist can find everything in
a single package be it leisure,
adventure, pilgrimage, nature,
warm climate or cold climate
all together.
In this series we take-up today the world famous Gharana
Wetland located in RS Pura
in Jammu better known as
bird watchers paradise.
In an article published in
International Research Journal of Environment Sciences
under title Feeding Guilds of
Avifauna of Gharana Wetland
Reserve-Jammu (J&K), India,
authors Pandotra A. and
Sahi D.N conclude, “Gharana
Wetland is biologically very
productive and provides feeding grounds for a diverse range
of resident and migratory
birds. Thus in birds, feeding
guilds provide insight into
the ecology of species and are
particularly useful in studies
that assess specific ecological
drivers of community change.”
Apart from the scientific
importance the wetland has
huge tourism potential which
is already being visited by
numerous schools and bird
j&k: a dream destination
watchers but needs a push that
can place it at the international
position of tourist circuit particularly for bird watchers and
nature lovers as this wetland
attracts birds as far as China
and Mangolia.
According to a report Ghrana
wetland attracts thousands
of migratory birds including
the rare species of bar-headed
Geese as different types of
migratory birds arrive in this
premier wetland, situated near
the Indo-Pak International
Border in R S Pura sector, to
make it their winter habitat.
“Around 3000-4000 birds
of various species, beside
bar-headed Geese, throng the
wetland making it a festivity of
bird watching.
Over 50 species of the barheaded Geese, including some
rare and endangered species,
every year fly a distance of
more than 1000 miles over the
Himalayas in a single day to
reach here from their breeding
grounds in Central Asia and
other parts of the world.
The birds which are counted
among the world’s highest
flying species, include Siberian
hans, Keel, Grey Heron and
little Grebe from New Zealand,
America and Australia.
Most of the birds like
Grey Key Goose, shoverier,
Marclands, Poachards, Teals
and Gadwal come from different places in Central Asia
and Northern Europe. They
migrate to Gharana to escape
the harsh winters the statistics
reveal.
In 2007, over 50,000 birds of
various species thronged the
Gharana which has been notified as a protected water body
and declared as Important
Bird Area (IBA) but unfortunately the encroachment in
the wetland has reduced the
size of the area to about 500
square meters, less than half of
its official size, they said.
Migratory birds come from
Siberia (Russia) which travel
  Contd on Page 2
