In brief

Dal Khalsa accuses Centre of double standards
JALANDHAR:Reacting to the offer of Home Minister P Chidambram of considering the review of the black list of Sikhs,if they give up their demand of Khalistan,Dal Khalsa accused the Centre of holding double standards. The Centre was holding talks unconditional talks with NSCN (IM) and Hurriyat Conference,but it imposed conditions on Sikh groups of dropping their stand,said Dal Khalsa leaders. Chidambram’s condition was not even legally tenable as Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court had held many times that striving for Khalistan through democratic means was neither unlawful nor against the law,they said.

Pre-budget proposals highlight farmers’ woes
Abohar:In his pre-budget proposals,Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj Ajay Jakhar has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to appoint a national food security advisor to control food prices. He hinted at curtailment of powers of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and said,“There should be one person to think about the welfare of the farmers. It is unjustified that the one who takes care of farmer will also take care of the interest of consumers. This is causing trouble for farmers.”

He added that the PM had assured to do something positive in this direction soon. Pointing out that agriculture budget made just 2 per cent of the Union Budget,while it was 40 per cent during the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,he asked the PM to increase the budget allocation this time.