<p>Judgment of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Shalbjit Singh Vs Punjab State Pollution Control Board & Others dated 21/11/2024.</p> <p>A letter petition dated November 5, 2022 was sent
Book>> Colonializing Agriculture, The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism
in a bid to promote crop diversification, the Punjab government is venturing into contract farming of basmati rice, oilseeds and durum wheat (see: Down To Earth, February 15, 2003). The state-run
smokescreen: Two persons were charred to death and 25 injured in a major fire at pharmaceutical giant Ranbaxy's factory in Mohali, Punjab, on June 11. The blaze was preceded by blasts at the
Punjab wants crop mowing boars and blue bulls dead
But Punjab and Haryana farmers depend on groundwater!
Warehousing Bill, a double edged sword for farmers
Proposal to acquire 2300 acres for the 2000 MW plant "Government had employed all tactics to terrorise the people' CHANDIGARH: The Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of Left parties, has threatened to make it a national issue in case the Punjab government failed to meet the demands of the people of the four villages of Mansa district of Punjab, who are agitating against a proposal to acquire their 2300 acres of land to set up a 2000 MW thermal power plant.
A state government survey says over 76 pc people had to grease the palms of municipal bodies to get basic amenities CHANDIGARH, February 21: It's not a finding the Punjab Government would like to flaunt. A survey sponsored by it has found out that 76.5 per cent of people pay bribes to officials in the various municipal bodies of the state to get their work done. The finding was an outcome of a study conducted by the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) for the Department of Planning, Punjab Government. The study discovered that 76.5 per cent of the respondents had paid bribe on one occasion and most of them (82.3 per cent) had paid it to one person only. Interestingly, 94.1 per cent of the repondents admitted that the persons concerned had asked for money for redressal of their problems regarding basic amenities such as water, sewerage, streetlights and roads. Besides paying bribes, 37.1 per cent of the people also felt the need to approach an influential person to get their complaints redressed. Interestingly, almost half of the respondents were not in favour of paying bribes for any work at the MC level but were forced to do so. The only exception were people at Jalandhar and Nakodar where 80 per cent and 100 per cent of the respondents, respectively, did not mind greasing palms to get their work done at the municipal corporation. However, in many cases, bribe did not prove to be the ideal solution. Nearly 44.1 per cent of the respondents complained about harassment even after paying the bribe. Only 23.5 per cent felt that their work was done immediately after they paid the bribe, said the study. A large number (37.4 per cent) of respondents felt that middle-level officials were most corrupt, and only 8.1 per cent pointed a finger at the councillors. A majority of the complaints (45.2 per cent) were related to poor water supply followed by faulty streetlights, potholed roads (11.3 per cent) and choked sewerage (8.1 per cent). In Hoshiarpur, poor or polluted water supply accounted for half the complaints, while building construction made up for one-fourth of the grouses. In Moga and Amritsar, blockage of sewerage and poor water supply were the major grouses. In a damning indictment of the municipal bodies, the survey showed that 74.9 per cent of the people were dissatisfied with their grievance redressal system. The Jalandhar municipal body fared most poorly with only 2 per cent of the respondents saying that the civic body was prompt in dealing with grievances. The reasons for corruption, according to the study, ranged from poor work culture, faulty management, lack of proper planning, absence of transparency, to ad hoc allocation of resources. The people surveyed suggested transparency and involvement of the locals in grassroots initiatives would improve the delivery system. Principal Secretary, Local Bodies, DS Bains, however, blamed the old urban infrastructure for the corrupt system. "Urban infrastructure is nearing a collapse in the state for want of investment in the last decade and half. Some unscrupulous elements take advantage of people who want better services. The answer lies in massive investment to upgrade the urban services which we are doing this year.' Show 'em the money Of the 76.5 pc people who bribed Punjab civic body officials to get their work done:
A word of thanks: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi with Punjab farmers who thanked the Central government for waiving their loans, in New Delhi on Monday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday assured a gathering of farmers from Punjab that the UPA government would address their grievances. However, as the budget is to be presented on Friday, Dr. Singh said it would be inappropriate to discuss the issues raised by them at this juncture. The farmers called on him to express gratitude for waiving off their loans. They submitted a charter of demands to him. In particular, they wanted the government to announce a debt relief package for small and marginal farmers in the budget. Dr. Singh said, "I understand the agony of the people of Punjab, especially farmers,' and sought to remind them that even last year, the UPA government announced a loan waiver for Punjab. The government wanted to see Punjab prosper, he said and thanked the farmers for organising the "thanksgiving rally' as it "exposed' the Akali Dal's claim of the Centre ignoring the State's farmers. The Akali Dal had been organising rallies, saying the UPA government was not protecting the Punjab farmers. "This is absolutely wrong and by coming here in such large numbers, you have proved it. The rights and interests of the people of Punjab are safe in the hands of the UPA government.' Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi also met another delegation of farmers from north India at the Congress president's residence during the day. At a press conference, party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the Congress strongly supported the legitimate demands of diverse sections of the farming community. Referring to farmers' meetings with the Prime Minister and Ms. Gandhi, he said the Congress always played a "pioneering and historic' role in developing agriculture. The government had kept up this tradition since 2004 with a series of "unique' initiatives "tailored and focussed' on the agricultural sector, which has seen an increase in allocation in the past three-and-half years of a scale not seen in the preceding years. He was confident that the government would respond positively to the farmers' demands for loan waiver or significant softening of the loan burden.
Ahead of the Union Budget, farmers across the country have asked the government to consider agriculture as a separate entity and allocate a separate budget for it, besides interlink of all the rivers. Farmers from more than 20 states of the country had assembled under one banner and put forth their demands to MPs, Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Commerce and Industry Minister and the Planning Commission. Senior officials of the Consortium of Indian Farmers' Association (CIFA) said the farming community in the country wants a permanent solution to their problems rather than a short-term one through bonus on crops. "Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath have agreed to a long-term policy,' they told The Indian Express. CIFA secretary general Prabhakar K Reddy said they had urged the ministers to fix rates of crops based on cost of cultivation. He said they have also asked that rivers across the country should be interlinked so that input costs could be cut down. Farmer leaders from 24 states of the country had also met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Telgu Desham party chief Chandrababu Naidu. "A meeting of all MPs across the country has been scheduled for March 15 at Andhra Bhawan in Delhi for an open debate,' said farmers. Reddy said, "The government should have a national policy on agriculture and the report of National Farmers' Commission Chairman MS Swaminathan should be put implemented.' Punjab president of the CIFA Satnam Singh Baheru said if the MPs failed to pay heed to their plight, they would blacklist them and never vote for them.
