CSE fellowship : foirest rights act

‘Only those who live off forests have rights on them’
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 28
Bhushan Parimoo’s heart beats for forests. A diehard save-forest campaigner, he has single handedly fought for forest rights, protection of tress and prevention of loss to ecology. His petition of saving khair trees was taken up by the Supreme Court at the national level. He has also fought for preventing silt in dams.

An ardent traveller, Bhushan posts pictures of damage to forests and green cover regularly on Facebook and other websites. “I make a statement on the websites. It moves the government,” he told The Tribune.

Q: You had a several years of struggle to save forests. When did you start?

Bhushan Parimoo: It all began in late 1970s when I had just passed out from college. The Salal hydroelectric Project at Dhiyangarh over the Chenab in Salal village of Reasi district was being constructed. I took up the issue of making adequate provision of taking care of silt which river carries in its normal course. The construction company was allowing it to accumulate on the dam lake bed.

Over the years, it would get accumulated and will exert pressure on the dam structure itself thereby putting avoidable pressure on the dam. The authorities stressed that there was enough land to handle the pressure if water level arose.

I formed an organisation, Environment Awareness Forum, which is running till date. We took up the matter and it was eventually proved that our argument was right.

Q: The issues you took up went up to the Supreme Court. What and how did all that happen?

BP: After taking the dam silt issue. I was disturbed to know the fate of khair trees from which katha is extracted, which is used for manufacturing ayurvedic medicines and pan masala. The trees were being recklessly exploited in the state.

This tree comes under the Specified Tree Act, whose felling is strictly banned. Still the government had allowed a firm to vandalise a forest having such trees in abundance. We requested the Supreme Court to intervene. It is now a famous case known as civil writ petition No. 171/96 titled, Environment Awareness Forum v/s state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Court was so impressed with our petition that it asked us to submit an all-India petition for saving the khair tree.

Q. What is the status of forests in J&K now compared to several years ago? What would be your advice on expanding forest cover?

BP: It is on the decline rapidly. The forests are in a mess as warned in 1987 in a seminar by RK Mattoo, as then director, social forestry, that, “If earnest efforts are not taken to restore the existing forests and raise large-scale plantation, our state will turn into a muss bowl”. At present, we have about 15-18 lakh hectare of degraded forests of which just less than one per cent is treated annually leaving 99 per cent untreated. This cumulative degradation is mounting and soil erosion is on at very fast pace. All water bodies in the forest are under threat. Wildlife sanctuaries are in a similar state.

There is a nexus between politicians, Forest Department and timber smugglers. Instead of removing encroachers, the government covered it all up by legalising encroachment under the ROSHNI Act, whereby those in possession of state land got right over the land they occupied. Officially, forestland was kept out of it and no objection certificate was to be obtained from the Forest Department to ascertain its tittle, but no such procedure was followed and forestland was encroached, which also got legalised. The problem was that there was no demarcated forest in the state. There is still confusion over forestland and revenue land.

Q. Tell us something about your organisation? How do you manage to run it without donations?

Bhushan: I broached upon the issue of salal project with many like-minded people who agreed to my fears about loss to forestland. It soon took the shape of a forum and slowly but steadily it is moving in right direction with sincere intentions.

Q. What are your views on the controversy of tribal rights in the state?

BM: Forests belong to people more so who are in or near it and who are born and brought up there. They are children of nature and for the nature. It is those who know its importance to protect, preserve and expand because on its survival depends their survival. As such, their rights are first and foremost. They were there and are there and shall remain in and around the forests. They are the rightful claimants, not the Forest Department which came into existence a century ago while these people are there for centuries.

Q. What is your advice on expanding forest cover in the state?

BM: The state has no land to expand, but it can go for massive afforestation in areas under its control, but it lacks will for that.

Q. Do you agree with the government data over forest cover in the state?

BM: No, it doesn't know even which area belongs to it in actual terms. Its records are not tallying with revenue records. Not a single forest division as of today can claim its records vis a vis revenue land.
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the "sri lanka of Jammu and Kashmir"!!!!

This Sri Lanka awaits bridge to Kathua for 6 decades
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Keerian (Kathua), May 10
Sri Lanka, a name given to a cluster of villages situated across the Ravi, awaits a bridge to connect to the mainland even after over six decades. Politically situated in Jammu and Kashmir, the villagers do not know where they actually exist. Most of their phone connections are of the Punjab telecom circle. Their children study in schools in Punjab and they too go to hospitals in Punjab.

Since Independence villagers were being promised that their villages would be connected with the district headquarters Kathua via a bridge over the Ravi. The bridge would have ended their misery, shortened journey to Kathua and brought development to the villages. But all they got were promises from politicians during every elections.

What to talk of fulfilling promises, no Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir had ever visited this “Sri Lanka”, villagers claimed. The five villages are covered under two panchayats - Keeriyan and Gangyal. The panchayat elections here are scheduled later this week.

The villagers have to travel 40-45 km for all revenue, police, judicial work at the district headquarters Kathua while the bridge will shorten the journey to just 5 to 7 km. With 15,000 population spread over five villages, people here do not have much hope from the panchayat elections.

Bishambhar, a septuagenarian farmer, said their destiny had been cruel to them. “We are Jammu and Kashmir residents. Most of us have got the state subject certificates. These villages were historically part of the Kashmir kingdom even though they were situated across the Ravi”.

“But we are Jammu and Kashmir residents for the revenue purposes only. The road connectivity, power supply and phone network, all are mostly of Punjab. Most of our children are married in Punjab villages,” he said.

Tony Sharma, a youth, who runs a dhaba near the prospective site for the bridge, said he hoped traffic would increase after the bridge comes up. “But the promises have proved to be hollow. Without the bridge we are cut off from the state’s mainland”.

“We have to travel 40-45 km via Pathankot and pay a hefty toll tax at the Lakhanpur barrier were tax is collected from people entering the state. Irony is that we live in the state, but we have to go outside to enter the state,” he said.

He added that, “The mobile phone connectivity of the Jammu and Kashmir circle is poor. We rely mainly on the Punjab telecom circle. Interestingly, many houses have landline connections of Punjab as well as Jammu and Kashmir”.

Rashid Ahmed, another farmer, said the campaigning for the panchayat elections was on but it won’t make any difference here. “When the Assembly and General elections have not changed our fate, what will the panchayat elections do,” he asks politicians.

now chinese mobile network in jammu

Now, Chinese mobile network in Jammu!
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Jammu, May 8
As if Chinese intrusions, military build-up along the Indian border and presence of Chinese army in the POK were not enough to create problems for India, now signals from the Chinese mobile network have been detected in this militancy-infested state.

An import-export trader on a visit to the state has revealed that while traveling, his Arab Emirates international number detected Pakistani as well as Chinese telecom signals. “I was surprised to receive “Welcome to Pakistan” and “Welcome to Zong service” signals. (Zong is a mobile service provider in China). I was scared whether I was in India or Pakistan or China,” the trader told The Tribune. His phone received these messages when he was near Hira Nagar. The place is 25-30 km from the Indo-Pak border but thousands of km from China.

Though signals from Pakistan mobile networks are easily received here, it is probably for the first time that presence of Chinese signals has been reported. Mobile connections of foreign countries do not work in Jammu and Kashmir as militants were reportedly using those. The trader said his Arab Emirates number did not work otherwise, but it was receiving the Chinese and Pakistan signals.

DIG Farooq Khan said: “I have no information about the Chinese mobile signals though Pakistan mobile phone signals are often reported. The telecom officials should be able to throw better light on this.”

General Manager of the BSNL Sandeep Sawarkar said Chinese mobile network is common in Pakistan and it was quite possible that the signals reach here. But not much could be done about this, he added.

“It is definitely a violation as Pakistan and Chinese signals can’t be received more than 1 km inside India. But we can’t jam the signals. That would affect our mobile networks as well,” he said adding India was keeping the mobile signals within its boundary but Pakistan was not following it.

Intelligence sources revealed that many militants had carried out operations using Pakistan or international mobile networks due to which the international mobile networks were banned in the state. However, Pakistan increased the signal strength more to help militants and the signals were used in terrorist activities.

Sources also revealed that the use of these signals have proved counter-productive for terrorists and infiltrators. “Many were caught just because they used the international network, which our experts detected and we zeroed down on the users,” revealed an intelligence official. The Zong website reveals it is one of the most popular Chinese mobile phone service provider with a large customer base. It is used in Tibet also.

courtsey :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110509/j&k.htm#5

terrorist families back to democracy

Brothers of two Khalistan ultras win in Simbal Camp
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Newly-elected sarpanch Rabinder Singh Binder lies on a bed at his house in the RS Pura sector in Jammu
Newly-elected sarpanch Rabinder Singh Binder lies on a bed at his house in the RS Pura sector in Jammu. Tribune photo: Anand Sharma

Simbal Camp (RS Pura), May 4
It is a victory of democracy and secularism here as members of the families of some most wanted Khalistan militants have won the panchayat elections. The positive aspect is that they were supported by the people belonging to other religions and communities.

The top of the list is Rabinder Singh Binder, younger brother of Ranjeet Singh Neeta, one of the 20 most wanted terrorists of the country. Binder is also the brother-in-law of Ravinder Kaur, the first woman human bomb in Punjab, who also belonged to Simbal Camp village.

While Neeta, as per the last reports, was in Pakistan trying to regroup the Khalistan Zindabad Force, his brother Binder played an instrumental role in the development activities in Simbal Camp village. He also helped in the regularisation of land records, which continued in the name of pre-1947 owners and got a road to his village constructed after many decades.

Egged on by villagers to contest the elections, Binder then organised rallies on the premises of a temple and emerged victorious by securing over 80 per cent of non-Sikh votes. Remarkably, he had suffered multiple fractures in leg and arms in a road accident in March and addressed a couple of rallies while lying on a bed. However, he could not do aggressive campaigning.

“My victory is the victory of democracy and secularism. I hope the government will give special attention towards the development of my village. I have already got installed streetlights at main chowks in the village,” Binder said.

He added that leaders of all political parties encouraged him to contest the panchayat elections, but he was especially indebted to the Congress and Cabinet minister Raman Bhalla for helping him. “I don’t want to talk much about Neeta. But for me, winning the panchayat elections and doing development work is the right way,” he said. He remembered how he and his family members were tortured several times when Punjab was fighting terrorism.

While Binder has won from the Nihalpur Simbal-Lower panchayat, Raja Singh, the younger brother of another Khalistan militant, Mohinder Singh Pappi, has won from the Dheendi Kalan-Lower seat.

Both seats were in Simbal Camp village, a name synonymous with terrorism during its peak time in Punjab. The Punjab Police used to raid this place regularly then. Later, the Central government stationed two battalions of the Indian Reserve Police here.

Raja Singh said, “Bloodshed and violence wreck havoc only”. “We can make a difference by sitting across the table. Development brings equality and it is the only solution,” he added.

courtesy : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110505/j&k.htm#3

PM's intitiative on Indo-Pak peace ---hope PAK won't stab us in the back this time,,feel members of divided families

PM’s PoK initiative cheers state
Residents hopeful Pak would reciprocate in similar fashion to Delhi’s six-month stay move
Jupinderjit Singh/TNS

Jammu, March 27
Octogenarian Salamat Khan has one unfulfilled wish: to see the borders between India and Pakistan melt down to a pre-1947 era. "Then (before Partition), people moved here and there like free wind and birds. Will it ever happen in my life time again?" he wonders.

Going by the bitter relations between India and Pakistan, his prayers were sure not to be answered until a week ago. But, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiative to allow six-month stay for Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) residents (in India) has offered some hope to Salamat. Earlier, the PoK residents were allowed a four-week stay.

Post-Partition, Salamat Khan opted to stay back in India with a hope that India-Pakistan borders would fade away with time. "They haven't all these years…. I was 17 then. My two younger brothers and parents crossed over," he said while talking to The Tribune.

Salamat says he expected Pakistan not to botch up the opportunity this time. "When India started the bus, they stabbed in the back by intrusion in Kargil, which eventually led to the Kargil War. Later, they scripted the 26/11 Mumbai mayhem."

Like thousands of his fellow Kashmiris whose near and dear ones stay in PoK, Salamat has to undergo an ordeal to meet his children and grandchildren. "It takes a year to process the files for our visit to PoK. Same is the situation on the other side of the border. It is us who have to live the pain and the agony of Partition. The border was built on our heart and with our blood," he said, choking with emotion.

But now at least after a year of struggle, said he, they could meet their relatives for six months.

Dr Liaqat Jafri, doctor and poet whose maternal uncles are in PoK, terms the initiative as "very good": "My relatives recently stayed here for four weeks….Then it was like climbing Mount Everest to get an extension of two weeks." Jafri, however, says that the government also needs to ease the verification process. It is easier to go via Wagah than through Chakan-da-Bagh border in Poonch district. "The Indian Government can help us by easing the process."

Rajiv Chunni, chairman of SOS International, an NGO working for the rights of PoK refugees, too, endorsed the simplification of the verification procedure. "It is too cumbersome and one has to pass through many checks and counterchecks." He wants the paper work reduced and all process completed in border districts itself.

Meanwhile, the latest figures, as revealed by Chief Secretary Madhav Lal about a fortnight ago, suggest that 3,314 persons have visited PoK from the Indian side and 3,384 vice versa since 2005.

Haji Jabbar Ahmed, of Jabla Uri, says, "We expect that the government of Pakistan would reciprocate in a similar fashion… it is a very welcome move as the members of a divided family who have been separated from each other for decades would get a chance to stay longer with each other."(With inputs from Tejinder Singh Sodhi in Srinagar)

first published in The Tribune dated March 28.
link :http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110328/j&k.htm#1

democracy and roads of jammu

By jupinderjit singh

Unlike other parts of the country, democracy surely does not exist on the roads of Jammu. It is usual to see a “free-for-all” situation on the roads in Punjab, but in Jammu, it is pure monopoly and autocracy of mini-buses.

Bus drivers can halt their vehicle anywhere. They can turn left or right without giving any indication. More often, they halt buses in the middle of the road and at times, they even stop the vehicle diagonally, blocking the traffic on both sides.

Most common is the violation of the rule of stopping the buses at designated stops. Such stopping points are not in the dictionary of the mini-bus drivers.

The buses stop at rotaries midway again blocking the vehicles. This scene is common at the Vikram Chowk. The buses would stop one after the other forming a row. Again, both sides of the four-lane road are blocked. The jam causes another row of vehicles and commuters just hope for mercy from the drivers.

True, the city traffic police is duly deployed at such places. But what do they do? They have simply put up a rope to stop vehicles when buses form such illegal row blocking the entire road. Where is the stick that is supposed to ensure that the buses stop at the designated place just a few metres away?

But cops don’t seem to bother. This makes one wonder if there are reasons other than sheer negligence to turn a blind eye to such blatant violation of traffic rules.

But, before you could ask a gentleman in blue, he would rudely shoo you away as VIP cavalcade is passing through. At that time, he would ensure that no bus is seen parked wrongly. Once the VIP cavalcade passes through smoothly, the job of the traffic cops is safe. They coolly move to a corner of the road and let people battle it out themselves.

This is the everyday story of traffic in Jammu. Jams occur like complicated knots, which after much jostling and pushing, untangle on their own. It is your sheer luck if it takes minutes or hours.

(published in JK Plus pullout of The Tribune : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110212/jkplus.htm#2)

Why doesn’t India discuss PoK issue with Pak, asks Karan Singh

Why doesn’t India discuss PoK issue with Pak, asks Karan Singh
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 22
Dr Karan Singh, MP and scion of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, today questioned the Kashmir policies of the Centre, asking why India did not rake up the issue of the conditions of the people in occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Gilgit and called for respect and acknowledgement of sacrifices and contribution by the Jammu region.

He also hinted at his displeasure at the selection of the three interlocutors chosen by the Centre for a solution of the Kashmir issue.

“I don’t talk much on such issues in public. I give my opinion and advice only to UPA President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I had also suggested them some names. I will not say whether the names were accepted or not, but I wish good luck to these people,” he said, refusing to talk further on the issue.

He followed on his speech made at a function in Akhnoor yesterday where he said the interlocutors would come to know the difference between Kathua, which is in Jammu and Kashmir, and Kahuta, which was the nuclear base of Pakistan.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a function, Dr Karan Singh said the Kashmir issue was a “human problem” and not a “political problem” as described by Union Home Minister P Chidambram. He said the Jammuites should meet the interlocutors and educate them about the rich history, aspirations and grievances of the people.

“Kashmir was part of the Dogra state. It was ours. We saved it but the work and sacrifices of the people of Jammu as well as Ladakh should be respected equally and acknowledged,”he said.

Karan Singh said he had a roadmap about the solution of the issue, but would not discuss it in public.

Asked to comment on how serious was the Centre in solving the Kashmir issue, Dr Karan said: “It is supposed to be serious for the past 63 years. We had 84,000 sq km of area, which has been reduced to about 42,000 sq km. Why not discuss the area occupied by Pakistan?”
BOX:
A day after saying that accession of the state to India was legal, Dr Karan Singh changed track,saying the accession was all right, but it was true that the state did not merge with India. Endorsing the controversial views of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah that the state did not merge with India, Dr Karan Singh said the state had same accession documents as other states but some had an instrument of merger also, which the state did not have. That was why, the state had a special status.Historians, however, have been insisting that only smaller states had a system of merger where they were united with bigger states for better administration.
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(Published in The Tribune, dated, October 23, 2010)