The Canadian Parvasi-issue 65

The International News Weekly india
11
October 19, 2018 | Toronto
Punjab CM Amarinder Singh seeks
compensation to check stubble burning
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi: Punjab
Chief Minister Amarinder
Singh on Thursday
met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to seek
compensation for farmers
for avoiding stubble
burning.
He sought Modi's intervention
to ensure settlement
of Rs 31,000 crore
cash credit limit gap and
assistance for the preparation
of the 550th birth
anniversary celebrations
of Guru Nanak Dev.
Modi was sympathetic
to the farmers' plight,
said Singh, who has been
pressing for Rs 100 per
quintal as compensation
for the farmers to check
the problem of stubble
burning.
Singh told Modi that
the problem of stubble
burning could get aggravated,
despite various
steps being taken by the
state, with the close of
the harvest season, and
needed to be urgently addressed.
The Chief Minister
also took the opportunity
to thank the Prime Minister
for the Centre's decision
not to disturb the
60:40 ratio with respect to
appointment of officers
in Chandigarh.
Amarinder Singh had
expressed his protest
over the constant efforts
being made to disturb
the fine balance in sharing
of officers and other
resources between Haryana
and Punjab that had
been achieved over a period
of time after a great
deal of effort.
Giving details of
the meeting, an official
spokesperson of
the Punjab government
said the Chief Minister
had urged Modi to advise
the Finance Ministry to
urgently settle the Rs
31,000 crore cash credit
limit gap on the principle
of shared responsibilities.
Reiterating his demand
for resettlement of
gap in Food Cash Credit
Account of Punjab,
which had resulted from
systemic and structural
reasons, the Chief Minister
said this should be
settled on the principle
of shared responsibilities
amongst the stakeholders
in procurement of
foodgrains for the country.
In fact, he pointed
out the matter had been
discussed in detail in internal
report of the Ministry
of Food and Public
Distribution, referred as
the P.K. Jha Committee
Report.
Noting that the Ministry
of Finance, which
was looking into the
matter on a reference received
from the Ministry
of Food and Public Distribution,
was yet to finalise
the matter, Singh sought
Modi's intervention to resolve
the issue.
He also urged the
Prime Minister to advise
the Ministry of Finance
to reconsider and review
conversion of Rs 31,000
crore as long-term loan
as it cannot be solely attributed
to Punjab given
the principle of shared
responsibilities.
The Chief Minister, in
the letter, had informed
Modi earlier that the
heavy rainfall in state
and adjoining Himachal
Pradesh from September
22-24 had caused extensive
damage to life, agricultural
crops, property
and other infrastructure
at different places in the
state.
The estimated damage
to crops was Rs 150
crore, while road network
had been damaged
to the extent of Rs 119.32
crore, with another Rs
516.51 crore caused to
flood protection infrastructure
and minor irrigation
works, said the
Chief Minister.
Rampal, 13 aides get life
term again in 2nd case
Hisar: A Hisar court
on Wednesday sentenced
selfstyled godman Rampal
and his 13 aides to life
imprisonment without
remission in connection
with a 2014 murder case.
The judgment came six
days after conviction in
two cases of murder.
On Tuesday, a local
court had awarded Rampal
and his 14 followers
life sentence in a murder
case. Six convicts, including
Rampal, are common
accused in both the cases.
In his 115-page judgment,
Hisar additional
sessions judge D R Chalia
observed, “The real challenge
is therefore, to differentiate
between the
real and fake. The Upanishads
also state that a
true guru or mahatma
should only be accepted
after careful consideration.
People need to be
made aware of it.”
While sentencing
the 14 convicts, including
Rampal, in the second
case, the court also
imposed a fine of Rs 2.05
lakh on each of them. The
court sentenced them to
life imprisonment and
Rs 1 lakh fine for murder,
life imprisonment and Rs
1 lakh fine for criminal
conspiracy and two-year
imprisonment and Rs
5,000 fine for illegal confinement.
All the sentences
will run concurrently.
“I don’t agree with the
notion that in the present
era, we don’t have any
godman to guide us. If
this wasn’t true, then the
renowned Steve Jobs and
Mark Zuckerberg would’t
have travelled to India in
their initial days of struggle.
I guess most of us fail
to recognize the true godman.
Even today many
gurus and saints are trying
to guide and show the
path towards spirituality
not only in India but
also internationally,” the
judge observed.
Hisar deputy district
attorney Rajeev Sardana
said the case was registered
on November 19,
2014 on the complaint
of Suresh, a resident of
Jakhora in Lalitpur district
of Uttar Pradesh,
for the murder of his wife
25-year-old Rajani, Santosh,
Malkiyat Kaur, Rajbala
and a child Adarsh.
There were 14 accused
in this FIR, of
which eight — Rajesh
alias Hariram, Babita
alias Baby, Pawan, Rajiv
Sharma, Rajesh alias Ramesh,
Balwan, Natwar
alias Lakshman, Ramchandra
— were on bail
before the verdict while
six accused — Rampal,
Raj Kapoor alias Pritam,
Rajendra, Joginder, Virendra,
Krishn were in
judicial custody, he said.
The Punjab Haryana
high court had directed
the police to arrest Rampal
when he failed to appear
before the court.
However, when the
police went to arrest
him, his followers barricaded
themselves inside
Rampal’s Satlok Ashram
near Barwala in Hisar
district, which led to a
violent confrontation.
Rampal was arrested on
November 19, 2014 after a
two-week standoff.
India continues to engage
with US on H-1B visa issue
IANS
NEW DELHI: India is
continuing to engage
with the US over the H-1B
visa, largely availed of by
Indian IT companies, after
the Trump administration
proposed changes
to the programme, a
senior official said on
Thursday.
"It is a very important
topic for us and that is
the reason why we have
time and again at various
levels we have taken up
this matter with the US
side," External Affairs
Ministry spokesperson
Raveesh Kumar said in
response to queries by
journalists here. Kumar
said that most recently,
the issue was raised during
the first ever India-US
2+2 Ministerial Meeting
held here last month that
was attended by External
Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj, Defence Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman, US
Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo and Defence Secretary
Jim Mattis.
The US Department
of Homeland Security
(DHS) said that the US
Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS)
plans to come out with its
new proposal by January
2019.
The DHS said it was
also proposing to remove
from its regulations certain
H-4 spouses of H-1B
non-immigrants as a
class of aliens eligible for
employment authorisation.
The move to end the
rule could have an impact
on more than 70,000
H-4 visa holders, who
have work permits. The
H-4 visas are issued by
the USCIS to immediate
family members (spouse
and children under 21
years of age) of the holders
of H-1B visa.
The DHS said it will
propose to revise the definition
of specialty occupation
to increase focus
on obtaining the best and
the brightest foreign nationals
via the H-1B programme.
It will also "revise
the definition" of employment
and employeremployee
relationship to
"better protect" US workers
and wages, the DHS
said. In his remarks on
Thursday, Kumar said
that India is closely engaged
with the US administration
as well as
the US Congress on this
matter. Stating that there
are certain bills which
have been introduced,
he, however, said that "it
is important to note that
none of these bills have
been passed so far".
"When we have engaged
with the US, we
have emphasised that our
partnership which we
have in the digital sphere
have been mutually beneficial,"
the spokesperson
said.
"We have highlighted
the role which has been
played by the highly
skilled Indian professionals
who have actually
contributed to the growth
and development of the
US economy," he stated.