Milk bought by middlemen from farmers in villages fetches them double the price in nearby towns. The situation is almost pervasive in the region with a slight change or variation in milk prices and input costs. The main reason behind this win-win situation for the middleman and big dairies in towns at the cost of farmers is the gap between the producer and the buyer.
The alleged custodial death of Surjeet Singh (70), a resident of Faridkot town, led to a protest by his relatives and locals on Saturday. Surjeet Singh was allegedly taken into custody by the city police in the morning because he was supposed to be sent to jail in an old case after the Punjab and Haryana high court upheld his conviction.
Adopting a rare form of protest, the PSEB Engineers' Association has announced to work more than the prescribed hours while resuming its protest against the alleged self-destructive policies of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) management.
Seven people, including five labourers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), were admitted to hospital after they clashed with the Akali sarpanch of Kalipur village and his supporters over the issue of "non-payment" wages on Saturday.
The annual convocation of Dr Shyam Lal Thapar College of Nursing took place on Friday at Rajiv Gandhi Auditorium where SS Gill, vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, gave convocational address and awarded degrees to the students. Raj Kumar Verka, vice-chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, was the guest of honour.
Students are exploring their talent in fields of clay modeling, drawing, poetry, singing, dancing and sports during the first-ever summer camps being organised in government schools under the Primary Vidya Sudhar Project (PRVESH). Muktsar deputy commissioner Paramjit Singh said such camps are being organised at schools in Khunde Halal, Bhagsar, Madrassa, Sarawan, Lakkar Wala and other villages by the education department.
Forest land measuring 8 acres and worth R2 crore was freed from the illegal possession of a former sarpanch during a special joint operation launched by forest and police officials on Friday.
The animal husbandry department has started inspecting poultry farms of the region to find out which one of them had dumped dead chickens stacked in gunny bags into the Bikaner canal. On Monday evening, the officials of the irrigation department had come across a number of gunny bags stacked with dead chickens in the Bikaner canal that branches out from Harikee Patan in Makhu, a rural town of Ferozepur.
The district police on Thursday booked a youth of Ramdev Nagar of Moga for abducting a Class-12 girl. Assistant sub-inspector Gamdoor Singh of south city police station said a case was registered on the complaint of victim's father.
A woman was killed in a fire accident at Bahona chowk in Moga late evening on Wednesday. The victim, Simarjit Kaur, 35, was working in the kitchen when a fire broke out and she was burnt alive. Two days back, another woman had died in a similar fire accident at Chugawan village when she was in the kitchen of her house.
The district-level civil hospital at Faridkot, which was already functioning with 50 beds instead of sanctioned strength of 100 and was facing shortage of doctors and paramedical staff, has further taken a hit with the transfer of six medical specialists.
Owing to shortage of teachers in government schools, it is students who are at the receiving end. The shortage of teachers, lecturers and principals in government schools has been reflected in the poor results, while students of private school have cornered glory.
An Senior police officials said Jagraj Singh along with some police officials raided the house of a scrap dealer, Balwinder Singh, at the village, who was allegedly involved in the business of illicit liquor. During the raid, two cartons of liquor were seized by the team.
Even as the state government has drawn a proposal to demand more than R7,000 crore from the central government to promote crop diversification, a section of farmers and experts has been suggesting direct transfer of money into pockets of farmers to make diversification feasible.
Farmers with small landholdings are trying their best to improve their fortunes by taking agriculture land on annual lease, mostly from big farmers, but the profit is mostly negligible.