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Journalism of Courage
Master Mohan Lal,Transport Minister,is no stranger to drama,having played Ravan in Ramlila programmes for several years now. The histrionics must,therefore,have come easy when he staged a real-life drama recently,threatening to immolate himself. This was after he had felt slighted by some policemen who had left early,along with Bathinda MP Harsimrat Badal,from a Road Safety Week function. The slighted minister called up Bhatinda SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill and threatened self-immolation outside his office. Later,the minister told journalists the function had been about the police and they should have stayed. As for the SSP,he said the minister had not been serious about the threat.
New growth story
At a time when every political leader those in the ruling alliance,those in the Congress as well as ousted Finance Minister Manpreet Badal- is talking about development,Punjab has scripted a growth story according to the latest available statistics. A new base year,2004-05,has been introduced by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) since 2010. As per the advance estimates for 2009-10,industrial production since the base year has moved up by 17 per cent,and the GSDP growth rate to 8.8 per cent. The people are getting richer by the year,the per capita income jumping from Rs 56,103 in 2008-09 to Rs 65,202 in 2009-10.
Phulkaris domain
After a struggle of five years,Punjab was finally able to clinch Geographical Indication (GI) status for phulkari,the traditional embroidered art form made by women in Punjab and parts of Haryana and Rajasthan. The first GI Punjab has obtained will apply also to the phulkaris made in Hisar and Ambala in Haryana and Ganganagar in Rajasthan. Manufacturers and traders in the product,handmade with unspun thread (patt) on handloom cotton (khaddar),will need to get themselves registered. The Patent Information Centre had filed the application in 2005,but a Mumbai resident had opposed it. The status has arrived after a legal battle of five years and six hearings.
Taming the wild cat
Of late,leopards have been frequently straying into Punjab from Himachal Pradesh. This being an unprecedented problem,the wildlife department is struggling to handle it and has now sought the help of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII),Dehradun,in drafting a leopard management plan. Punjab is also planning a leopard census following three deaths in the last few months. The Chief Wildlife Warden says before embarking on a plan it is important to find out the number of leopards that have strayed into Punjab. Earlier,the Himachal forest cover was thick but now trees are being cut and more leopards sighted.
