Van gujjars demand ST status, Assembly seat

Dehradun, March 21
Van gujjars have sought an Assembly constituency reserved for the community in the state.

At a convention of van gujjars held at the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), Dehradun, the van gujjars unanimously put forward their demand for reserving an Assembly seat for the community. They also sought the Scheduled Tribes status for the community even while accusing the state Forest Department of harassing them repeatedly.

“In the states of J&K and Himachal Pradesh, the van gujjars enjoy the status of the Scheduled Tribe, but in Uttarakhand instead of giving the ST status, the state government is harassing van gujjars. We demand that the process of declaring van gujjars as the Scheduled Tribe should be initiated immediately and like Jammu and Kashmir, a seat in the Assembly should also be reserved for our community,” said Mohammad Yusuf, a van gujjar residing in the Rajaji National Park.

Aklobibi, a woman representative of the tribe, said, “When our men die, forest officials harass women by saying that the land was given to your husband and now you have no claim on it. We face oppression at the most troubled time in our lives.”

Other speakers asked the Uttarakhand Government to fulfil its promises made in the election manifesto and follow the directions of the National Human Rights Commission treating them under the Scheduled Tribe and Other Forest Dwellers Act, 2006. They also demanded a check on the forcible eviction of those van gujjars who do not wish to leave the forest.

Presiding over the meeting, Padmashri Avdhash Kaushal, chairperson, RLEK said, "I have brought to the notice of Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in the presence of Yashpal Arya, state president of the Congress that the government should immediately organize a function in Dehradun and redress the concerns of van gujjars".

He said the distribution of land pattas in the joint names of husband and wife to the van gujjars of Gaidikhatta, Pathri and Bibiwala must be done without delay.

Uttarakhand budget presented: Opposition termed deceit and jugglery of financial data

Dehradun, March 20
Refraining from imposing any new taxes, the Uttarakhand Finance Minister, Indira Hridayesh, today presented a Rs 25329.84 crore revenue surplus budget for the year 2013-14 amidst Opposition din in the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.

Presenting the second Budget, the Finance Minister tried to do the balancing act by hiking the budgetary allocation in the social sector and also offering sops to women, disabled persons, minorities, IT, hotel, food processing industry and also strengthening on human and intellectual capital.

“If you take the revenue and the capital expenditure, it is a revenue surplus budget. We have been able to tame the fiscal deficit which is 2.92 per cent of GSDP, which is within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management venue RBM target of 3 per cent, ” said Indira Hridayesh.

To empower women in property matters, stamp duty exemption of 25 per cent will be given up to Rs 30 lakh (an increase from the earlier amount Rs 20 lakh).

The Budget also proposes to reduce stamp duty from 2 per cent to 1 per cent in cases of gift deeds in favour of family members. To encourage fruit producers, VAT on fruit wine is planned to be reduced from 32.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

To give a fillip to IT industry, the Budget proposes to extend tax concessions against form “C” till March 2015 or till implementation of GST regime.

To give relief to the hotel industry, it has been proposed to do away with the luxury tax being imposed on the hotels offering SPA activities.

Stamp duty exemption in case of property transfers to disabled persons is proposed to be enhanced from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

VAT rate of wire crates used for disaster prevention and flood protection works is proposed to be reduced from 13.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

For development of infrastructure facilities in SC majority areas, a provision of Rs 50 crore has been included, which is in addition to the other specific departmental schemes. For the welfare of minorities, Rs 75 crore has been provided in the Budget.

Highlights:
The Budget estimate shows a receipt of Rs 18,955.72 crore under the consolidated fund, of which Rs 11,007.81 is tax revenue and Rs 7,947.91 crore is under non-tax revenue.
The total expenditure from the consolidated fund of the state in 2013-2014 under the non-plan expenditure is at Rs 16,6619.46 crore, of which Rs 4,422.97 crore is on revenue and Rs 2,196.49 crore on capital account.
Despite the financial constraints, the government has increased provision in major departments as compared to last year.
The increase in budgetary allocation in education sector is estimated at Rs 4,875 crore in 2013-2014. In 2012-2013, it was Rs 4,321 crore. The allocation in health has increased from Rs 996 crore in 2012-2013 to Rs 1,209 crore in 2013-214.
The allocation for the social welfare scheme has increased from Rs 1,000 crore in 2012-2013 to Rs 588 crore in 2013-2014. The allocation towards roads has increased from Rs 1,167 crore in 2012-2013 to Rs 1,314 crore in 2013-2014.
A provision of Rs 3,262 crore has been made, which is 46 per cent higher than 2012-2013.

A pack of lies, says Bhatt

Dehradun, March 20
Ajay Bhatt, Leader of the Opposition in the Uttarakhand Assembly, has termed the Budget presented by the state government as a document of falsehood, deceit and jugglery of financial data.

Bhatt in a statement said the state government had utterly failed to use 41 per cent of the funds of the previous Budget. He added it was unlikely that the government would be able to generate resources as it had reduced taxes for high-end users like Spa and Wines in the Budget.

He said the government managed to survive last year only due to the Central grant and pension funds of Rs 2,300 crore made available by the Uttar Pradesh government. The Budget was highly disappointing for the common people of the state, he added.

The wife married to FIVE brothers

Rajo, 21, follows a tradition in Indian villages which allows families to hold on to their farmland

• Rajo Verma, 21, lives in one room with the siblings, in Northern India
• The young wife spends each night with a different brother in turn
• She does not know which of siblings is the father of her young son
• Fraternal polyandry is tradition in the small village near Dehradun

A young Indian woman has spoken out about being married to five husbands, all of whom are brothers. Rajo Verma, 21, lives in one room with the siblings and they sleep on blankets on the floor. 
The mother-of-one, who sleeps each night with a different brother, does not know which of her five related husbands is the father of her 18-month-old son.

Happy family: Five brothers (L-R) Sant Ram Verma, 28, Bajju Verma, 32, Gopal Verma, 26, Guddu Verma, 21, and Dinesh Verma, 19, with their shared wife Rajo Verma, 20, and their son Jay Verma

The set-up may seem peculiar, but it is tradition in the small village near Dehradun, Northern India, for women to also marry the brothers of their first husband.
She told the Sun: 'Initially it felt a bit awkward. 'But I don’t favour one over the other.'

Rajo and first husband Guddu wed in an arranged Hindu marriage four years ago.
Since then she has married Baiju, 32, Sant Ram, 28, Gopal, 26, and Dinesh, 19 - the latest in the line of husbands - who married her as soon as he turned 18.
'We all have sex with her but I’m not jealous,' first husband Guddu  - who remains the only official spouse - said. 'We’re one big happy family.'

Tradition: The set up may seem peculiar, but it is custom in the small village near Dehradun, Northern India, for women to also marry the brothers of her first husband

Wife: They sleep together in turn, but that they do not have beds, just 'lots of blankets on the floor'. Rajo does not know which of the brothers is the father of her son

Housewife: Rajo said she got a lot more attention and love than many other wives

POLYANDRY: AN ANCIENT TRADITION

The practice of polyandry is believed to stem from the tale of Mahabharata, the ancient Indian epic.
The text, one of the cornerstones of Indian culture, sees Draupadi, daughter of the King of Pancha being married to five brothers.
It is not legal, but in its most common form - whereby women in polyandrous relationships marry more than one man from the same family - it is permitted.
It tends to be practised in male dominated villages, who still follow primitive rituals and customs. Brothers who refuse the union are often treated as outcasts.
In polyandrous families, the woman often cannot say which of her husbands fathered which children.
Recently, there have been instances of DNA testing, to solve inheritance disputes.  
 

The ancient Hindu tradition of polyandry was once widely practiced in India, but is now only observed by a minority.
It sees a woman take more than one husband, typically in areas which are male dominated.
In fraternal polyandry the woman is expected to marry each of her original husband's brothers.
It is thought to have arisen from the popular Sanskrit epic of Mahabharatha, which sees Draupadi, daughter of the King of Pancha being married to five brothers.
The practice is also believed to be a way of keeping farming land in the family.
It is most commonly found near the Himalayas in the north of the country, as well as in the mountainous nation of Tibet.
While the advance of modernity has seen the archaic practice largely die out in most areas, the shortage of women in countries such as China and India has helped keep it alive as a solution to young men's difficulties in finding a wife.
Rajo said she knew she was expected to accept all of her husbands, as her own mother had also been married to three brothers. 
She said they sleep together in turn, but that they do not have beds, just 'lots of blankets on the floor'.
She added: 'I get a lot more attention and love than most wives.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2295380/The-wife-married-FIVE-brothers-Rajo-21-follows-tradition-Indian-villages-allows-families-hold-farmland.html#ixzz2MuGpr3Ur
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