SRINAGAR: Cold wave conditions continued in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday as minimum temperatures remained below the freezing point.
Sonam Lotus, director of the MeT department said, “Light rain/snow is likely to occur in J&K and Ladakh during the next 48 hours.”
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the coldest place in the Valley where the minimum temperature was minus 9.0 degrees.
Pahalgam, the famous health resort which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 6.2 degrees Celsius.
Srinagar, the summer capital of the state recorded a low of 1.8 degrees Celsius while Qazigund in south Kashmir registered a low of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius.
Kokernag town recorded a low of minus 2.6 degrees Celsius while Kupwara town in north Kashmir registered a low of minus 0.3 degrees Celsius last night.
Jammu city recorded 7.2 degrees Celsius, Katra 7.0, Batote 0.4, Banihal recorded minus 1.6 and Bhaderwah recorded minus 1.1 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperatures.
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SRINAGAR: In the last 24 hours, India registered a 20 per cent dip in new Covid-19 cases with 1,67,059 infections, but the fresh fatalities surged to a whopping 1,192, said the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday.
The single-day deaths saw a surge after Kerala added 638 fatalities as backlog to Tuesday’s count, said the Ministry.
The nationwide death toll thus climbed to 4,96,242.
Meanwhile, the active caseload has reported a marginal decline at 17,43,059 which constitute 4.20 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
The recovery of 2,54,076 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,92,30,198. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 94.60 per cent.
Also in the same period, a total of 14,28,672 tests were conducted across the country, which took the total to 73.06 crore.
While the weekly positivity rate stood at 15.25 per cent, the daily positivity rate has come down to 11.69 per cent.
With the administration of over 61 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid inoculation coverage reached 166.68 crore as of Tuesday morning.
More than 11.92 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs. (IANS)
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Trade between India and Central Asia lies at an insignificant $2 billion compared to Chinese trade with the CARs, which roughly amounts to $100 billion.
Map showing the location of the strategic Chahbar Port in Iran
India’s ties with Central Asia can be traced back to the ancient Silk Road, along which goods, people, and ideas flowed. Geographically Central Asia has been at the intersection of crucial political and economic transformations for centuries. While the dissolution of the Silk Road limited exchanges, there is a renewed effort to reconnect India with the region by the leadership.
The importance which India attaches to the five Central Asian republics (CARs) was shown by its commitment to hold a virtual summit with the Presidents of five CARs, when they were unable to travel to India to participate in the Republic Day parade as Chief Guests duet to Covid travel restrictions.
India’s Outreach
As expected the issue of Afghanistan constituted one of the focus areas of the agenda for the summit. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the five Presidents decided to set up a joint working group on Afghanistan, with a broad consensus emerging on issues such as combating terrorism and drug trafficking.
Modi outlined the three focus areas for India in its relationship with CARs; Central Asia is central to India’s vision of an integrated and stable extended neighbourhood and cooperation between India and Central Asia is essential for regional security and prosperity, secondly to establish a framework of regular interactions at different levels and among various stakeholders, and lastly to create an ambitious roadmap for future cooperation.
The Prime Minister also referred to India’s close ties with all the Central Asian states at a bilateral level, and also underlined the importance of each of these countries. He described Kazakhstan as an important partner for India’s energy security.
He highlighted the fact that India’s state governments are active partners in growing cooperation with Uzbekistan, while there is an active partnership with Kyrgyzstan in education and high-altitude research. Modi described Turkmenistan as an important part of India’s vision for regional connectivity, and said this was evident from “our participation in the Ashgabat Agreement”.
With Tajikistan, he said, “We have longstanding cooperation in the field of security. And we are continuously strengthening it.”
The FMs of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan called on PM Narendra Modi on December 20, 2021. They were on a visit for the 3rd meeting of the India-Central Asia Dialogue. India and Central Asian countries mark the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2022.
Importance of CARs
In the last decade, Central Asian nations have also been looking for viable partners particularly in economic and security sectors. Both share common concerns in tackling radicalisation and terrorism.
However, bilateral progress can be described as slow. This is due to the associated concerns with security and capacity constraints, the security situation in Afghanistan and political differences within Central Asia.
India earnestly started its outreach with its ‘Connect Central Asia Policy’ initiated by UPA II, later Modi became the first Indian head of state to visit all five nations in 2016. Since then there has been significant progress in cooperation, particularly in the fields of defence, energy and connectivity. The renewed Indian focus on the region can be attributed to the geopolitics of the region, particularly China’s aggressive outreach with all five CARs.
India has also initiated multilateral engagement with the region at two levels. The first is through regional connectivity, with a renewed push for long-delayed projects. This received a boost after Iran and India signed an agreement to develop Chabahar Port, when PM Modi visited Iran in 2016, the port has now become commercially operational. Further, to facilitate the transport of goods between India and Central Asia via Iran, India joined the Ashgabat Agreement in 2018 –including Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
More importantly, twelve years after becoming an observer, India joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) as a full member in 2017. SCO is not only beneficial for India to remain connected with Central Asia, but also has the potential for India to work collectively with other leading powers in the region to address economic and security issues that may have potentially detrimental concerns for the world.
While these steps have given a new lease of life to India’s vision for Eurasian connectivity, New Delhi must combine skilful diplomacy with action on the ground to ensure the continued viability of these projects in the face of US-Iran tensions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan’s former President., Ashraf Ghani
China and CARs
Though India has adopted a more proactive approach and explored new avenues for economic cooperation with CARs. China has aggressively wooed the CARs through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), besides leveraging its geography, finances and population to ensure that its projects can contribute to making its dream of a new and improved Silk Road a reality,
Operating at several levels the Chinese economic strategy in Central Asia also focuses on the development of western China, through the opening up of Xinjiang and ensuring its economic development in order to cool tensions there. In addition, China needs CARs as a market for its goods besides getting its energy requirements through CARs.
Ebrahim Raisi, The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Chinese anxiety to consolidate its links with CARs and disallow India from taking any initiative in the region is shown by its haste to hold a summit with the leaders of Central Asian countries on January 25, at very short notice, after India had announced its summit. China’s President Xi Jinping had offered $ 500 million in assistance to the region and has vowed to strengthen trade with the countries.
Asad Mirza
On the other hand trade between India and Central Asia lies at an insignificant $2 billion compared to Chinese trade with the CARs, which roughly amounts to $100 billion. India could increase this bilateral trade by trying to meet its high import dependency for energy, through CARs, which are rich in resources such as oil, natural gas, uranium, etc. On the other hand, it could explore areas where the Indian industry could export to CARs at a considerably lower cost.
As stability in Central Asia remains critical to the interests of big players like Russia and China, the CARs will remain in focus at multilateral forums concerning Afghanistan; this also underlines the importance of improving relations with CARs for India to expand regional cooperation.
(Asad Mirza is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. In his career spanning more than 20 years, he was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai. Views are personal.)
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Circulation of money in modern economies is like the circulation of blood in a living being. And the natural way of its circulation is through trade. Any restriction on trade, therefore, has serious consequences for any economy.
The disaster unleashed by the Covid19 pandemic and its consequent rippling effects has made it clear that this virus is not just a health challenge. It is equally, if not more, fatal when viewed from the perspective of economic costs involved.
The pandemic has proved disastrous to the survival and well being of millions of people across the globe. The speed at which this creature travels across all physical and political barriers has crippled international and domestic trade. Disruption in global, domestic and local trade has inter alia led to the closure and slowing down of economic activities, loss of employment opportunities, rising food prices and steep inflation across all countries.
Its impact on some sections of people especially women, children and on other vulnerable sections of humanity is equally grave. Data from some reputed organizations like World Bank, UN organizations and World Health Organisation (WHO) may help us understand this side of the pandemic. The data may be useful in devising policies in dealing with what awaits us in near future.
Global Studies
Although everyone had to bear the brunt one way or the other, but it is the people in lower and middle-income groups, in particular, that were severely affected. The crippling of economic activity in the past two years has pushed people in lower and middle-income groups to the poor category and those in the poor category to the extreme poor category.
As per a recent report published by the World Bank in December 2021 The Inequality Pandemic, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, extreme poverty rose in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years and around 100 million more people are living on less than USD 1.90 a day. As per another report published by the WHO in March 2021, Covid-19 is estimated to have pushed 119-124 million people into extreme poverty in 2020.
According to a November 2021 publication Global Economic Effects of Covid 19 by Congressional Research Service of USA, since its declaration as a pandemic by the WHO in March 2020, Covid19 has affected USD 90 trillion worth global economy which is beyond anything experienced in nearly a century.
The impact of the onslaught of the pandemic has been felt across industries and sectors particularly those that depend upon the movement of people and goods like tourism and hospitality industry, land transport and aviation industry, etc. As per an estimate published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in June 2021, the coronavirus pandemic could cause a loss of more than 4 trillion USD to the global GDP for the years 2020 and 2021 due to a crash in international tourism alone. This is despite the subsequent easing of travel restrictions and consequent economic recovery in the second half of 2021.
Vulnerable Education
One of the sectors worst hit by the pandemic and which has a bearing on future generations is the education sector. This sector has suffered huge losses both from a business and employment points of view and also from the perspective of children’s inability to have access to education owing to the closure of schools.
The Inequality Pandemic Report highlights that in low- and middle-income countries due to prolonged school closures and poor learning outcomes, 70 per cent of 10-year-olds cannot read a basic text. This, as per the report leads to a risk of this generation of students losing USD 17 trillion in their lifetime earnings. According to World Economic Situation and Prospects 2022 (a report produced by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), ‘the pandemic has worsened prospects for a dramatic loss in human capital and the direst education crisis in a century for developing countries. This is due to prolonged school closures, lasting up to 250 days, or in some cases, with schools yet to reopen.”
Future Tense
In immediate future also the economic scenario seems to be full of challenges. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2022 cautions that “global economic recovery hinges on a delicate balance amid new waves of Covid19 infections… With new waves of infections spreading quickly, the human and economic tolls are expected to increase.” The report adds that the “New Covid19 variants and the reintroduction of quarantine and mobility restrictions could significantly restrain economic activities. Although the actual impact is impossible to assess in advance, new variants could severely impair market confidence and derail economic recoveries.”
It is expected that due to the rapid spread of the Omnicron variant, the Covid19 pandemic will continue to disrupt economic activity. Global Economic Prospects published by World Bank Group for January 2022 projects that “the global economy is set to experience its sharpest slow down after an initial rebound from a global recession since at least the 1970s”. What is true at the global level is equally true at the national and local levels, all markets being closely connected.
Impact on Banking
Due to the slowdown of the economic activity banking industry is also struggling to recover loans from small and medium-size businesses that were forced to shut down due to lockdown. This has impacted the recovery of loans and maintenance of asset quality by the Banks.
As per a report dated July 1, 2021, published by the Reserve Bank of India on Macrofinancial Risks, ‘the most immediate challenge for banks worldwide is a possible rise in corporate insolvencies and non-performing Assets’ whereby money is held in bad assets for years. Circulation of money in modern economies is like the circulation of blood in a living being. And the natural way of its circulation is through trade. Any restriction on trade, therefore, has serious consequences for any economy.
Situation Back Home
The scenario in Jammu and Kashmir is no different. As per estimates (reported in The Economic Times dated June 3, 2021), the trade and commerce bodies in Jammu and Kashmir assessed the business losses of around Rs10,000 crore during the month-long Covid-19 lockdown during the second wave.
In a recent statement in December 2021 to Kashmir Observer, on December 23, 2021, the President of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries has assessed that from August 2020 Kashmir’s economy has suffered a loss of Rs 40,000 crore and one lakh people lost employment. All this has to be seen from the perspective of the series of lockdowns since the year 2016 in the valley in particular.
Can We Afford?
Amidst all this, the question that arises is whether we can afford another lockdown or that given the costs involved, it can be avoided. There is a need to have a holistic approach to the situation wherein views of health experts, economic experts and those of other stakeholders is taken into account. The events need to be looked into objectively for preparing strategies and plans in order to prevent further damage.
Our response must be directed at the rationalization of competing for economic interests and preventing a health catastrophe. It needs to be understood that we cannot sit back and wait for the pandemic to pass. We shall have to live with it and sail through it.
Our response therefore must be in sync with this reality. Both our social and economic activities need to go on alongside the measures to deal with the pandemic. Therefore, the imposition of lockdown must be the last resort. Just as one medicine cannot be a treatment for every ill, shutting down businesses, suspending services and imposing lockdowns cannot be one solution for all problems. There has to be a proper plan, some comprehensive arrangements instead of the attempted straight jacket formulas.
Showkat Hussain
Germane to mention that many countries including UK and Spain are considering treating Covid as the normal flu and resumption and continuation of normal economic and other activities. We must remember that This Too Shall Pass but the manner in which we deal with it will someday also be part of history. Our past experience has proved that shutting down every other activity of life and locking up people or restricting their movement may not be wholly helpful. This strategy has caused more damage than any good. We need to realize that people first need to earn their bread in order to survive. They need to live before attempting to keep death at bay. After all, Covid19 alone is not after one’s life.
(Author holds a masters degree in Commercial Law and works for a bank. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Kashmir Life.)
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SRINAGAR: Amid forecast for light rain and snowfall, night temperatures recorded a rise in Kashmir Valley on Monday.
Quoting a meteorological department official news agency GNS reported that Srinagar, the summer capital of the J&K recorded a low of minus 1.6°C against last night’s minus 2.3°C on the previous night.
While the ‘Chillai Kalan’, the 40-day long harshest period of winter which started from December 21 has ended, Kashmir is under the grip of the 20-day long ‘Chillai Khurd’ which would be followed by 10-day-long ‘Chilla Bachha’.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 6.6°C against minus 7.4°C on the previous night, he said.
The temperature is 1.0°C above normal for this time of the year in the famous resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Qazigund, the gateway town of Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 2.8°C against minus 3.2°C on the previous night, he said.
Kokernag, also in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 2.4°C against minus 2.8°C on the previous night, the official said.
Pahalgam, the famous resort in south Kashmir, recorded a low of minus 4.8°C against minus 7.0°C on the last night, he said.
Kupwara town in north Kashmir recorded a low of minus 0.6°C against minus 2.4°C on the previous night, the official said.
Jammu recorded a low of 7.7°C against previous night’s 6.6°C. The temperature was 0.7°C below normal for the J&K’s winter capital during this time of the year, he said.
Banihal recorded a low of minus 1.0°C, Katra had a minimum of 7.0°C while Bhaderwah recorded a low of minus 0.3°C, the official said.
Ladakh’s Leh recorded a low of minus 10.6°C against last night’s minus 11.7°C while mercury at automatic station in Kargil settled at minus 14.4°C. Drass, the second coldest place in the world after Siberia, recorded a low of minus 14.7°C against last night’s minus 21.7°C, official said.
“There is possibility of light rain or snow on January 31-February 1 at scattered places and fairly widespread light rain and snow on Feb 3,” the official said, adding, “Overall, weather is likely to remain partly to generally cloudy (this) week. There’s no forecast of any major weather till 1st week of February.”
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SRINAGAR: Bangaluru based Kashmiri journalist, Somnath Sapru has died, reports appearing in the media said. He was 82 and has reportedly died at his Bose Garden residence on Friday.
Somnath Sapru (1940-2022)
Mostly writing on defence and aviation, Sapru has been an editor at The Pioneer and The Indian Express. For most of his life, he was covering defence for the Deccan Herald and later he joined The Indian Express as its Resident Editor in Madras. He was a Resident Editor at The New Indian Express as well.
Sapru was born and brought up in Srinagar but he has lived most of his life outside Kashmir. He has authored a book on Kashmir, The Lost Shangri-La: Glimpses of Ancient Kashmir. He also wrote four books on defence. A bachelor, he is survived by his foster son.
Sapru was born on January 21, 1940, and most o his higher education took place at Madras University. He died on January 28, 2022.
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SRINAGAR: India has reported 2,09,918 Covid cases in a span of 24 hours, 10 per cent lower than the previous day’s 2.34 lakh. In the same time span, 959 fresh Covid deaths have also been reported, said the Union health ministry on Monday morning.
With the addition of new Covid fatalities, the death toll has reached 4,95,050. However, Kerala added 374 deaths as backlog to Monday’s count.
The active caseload has reported a marginal decline at 18,31,268, which constitutes 4.43 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
The recovery of 2,62,628 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,89,76,122. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 94.37 per cent.
Also in the same period, a total of 13,31,198 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 72.89 crore cumulative tests.
Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 15.75 per cent while daily positivity rate has reported marginal rise at 15.77 per cent.
With the administration of over 28 lakhs vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid inoculation coverage has reached 166.03 crore as of Monday morning.
More than 12.38 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered, according to the health ministry as of Monday morning.(IANS)
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In this December 2007 photograph, Ghulam Nabi Azad is seen listening to Narendra Modi. Then, both of them were the Chief Ministers.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, a former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was conferred the Padma Bhushan award and political heavens started falling within minutes. While the party’s first family kept calm, the divisions started reacting. Kapil Sibal said Congress does not need Azad’s services but the nation recognises his contributions to public life. Sibal and Azad belong to the G-23 group that sought internal reforms in the grand old party. It was actually Jairam Ramesh who indirectly lit the fire on social media. Sharing a tweet about former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee declining the Padma honour, he commented on Twitter: “Right thing to do. He wants to be Azad not Ghulam.”
In the subsequent days, the honour triggered a lot of commentary with certain sections insisting that Azad will ‘do an Amarinder’ on the Congress party, in a phased manner. There were reports that Azad will soon float a new political party in Jammu and Kashmir, where there are fewer voters but more political parties now. These reports came within days after the pro-Azad section in Congress left most of the party positions in Jammu and Kashmir. Azad was already out of the party’s central disciplinary committee. Padma honour is being seen as just the beginning of a build-up in BJP’s battle against NC and PDP, the reports said. However, most of the G-23 leaders celebrated the award to Azad. There are even claims that he will be the next Vice President of India.
Personally, Azad remained calm and avoided reacting to the reports. There were many people who felt hurt by attacks on Azad. “If one of our colleagues is honoured, he should be greeted with warm appreciation rather than snide remarks,” Dr Karan Singh remarked. He asserted that he was “distressed at the unseemly controversy over the well-deserved Padma award to his good friend.” In the Narendra Modi era, Azad is the second Congress politician who got the Padam award. Earlier in 2008, Pranab Mukherjee was conferred Padma Vibhushan. He received the Bharat Ratna award in 2019. Azad, however, reacted to the “mischievous propaganda” that he had changed his Twitter profile. “Nothing has been removed or added to my Twitter profile,” he said, “The profile is as it was earlier.”
Four employees survived with injuries while fighting a fire in the highly inflammable Oxygen Plant of the JLNM Hospital. It caught fire while certain portions were being welded by a third party.
DODA
In a one-of-its-kind event, the Army allowed families of two militants – who are reported across the border, to unfurl the tricolour in Doda. The fugitives were identified as Nazir Gujjar alias Abu Manazil and Saleem Malik. While Saleem fled to PoK in 2000, Nazir followed him in 2003. The flag was unfurled by Nazir’s father Lal Din Gujjar and Saleem’s brothers Irfan Malik and Yaseen Malik at an Army camp. Company Commander of 10 Rashtriya Rifles presided over the function.
20 couples from various districts tied the knot in a simple mass marriage function organised by an NGO, Helping Hand Foundation, at Babdamb Khanyar (Srinagar).
SRINAGAR
After a heightened security set-up, Republic Day functions across Kashmir remained peaceful and incident-free. Mobile internet remained suspended and markets closed though there was no call for a strike. The major event took place in Srinagar where an adviser to the Lt Governor took the salute at the ceremonial march past and unfurled the tricolour in Sher-e-Kashmir Stadium near Sonawar. The functions were reported from all districts, tehsils, sub-districts and blocks. An official spokesman said the district official events took place in college premises in Anantnag, local stadiums in Bandipore, and Budgam, Qamria Grounds in Ganderbal and District Police Line (DPL) premises in Baramulla, Kupwara, Handwara, Sopore, Shopian, Pulwama, and Awantipore. In all these functions in the periphery, the local heads of the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) – DDCs in districts and BDCs in blocks, presided over the functions and unfurled the tricolour.
After a hiatus of two years, a batch of 43 pilgrims left to perform Umrah last week. Expectations suggest that 100 pilgrims will be flying for special pilgrimage on a weekly basis
LEH
Controversy erupted at the Republic Day celebration in Ladakh where LAHDC Councillors boycotted the official event at Polo Ground after they were allegedly denied entry into the venue through the VIP gate. Though ADGP Ladakh, SS Khandare ordered attachment of a Sub Inspector Teswang Paljor and Constable Abdul Gani, who were on duty at the said gate, the political class is seeking a thorough probe and a strict action. The boycotting councillors saw the denial of their entry as a deliberate one to convey “our dis-empowerment”. They alleged they were kept standing for 15 minutes and denied entry following which they returned. “It is a bureaucratic rule and seems like a colonial era,” one councillor alleged.
While searching a vehicle, police said they seized 2-kg brown sugar worth over Rs 15 crore in Handwara and arrested two persons – Mohammad Yousuf Bhat (Rohama) and Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat (Badan) Rafiabad.
DHAKA
A groupof Kashmiri students in a Dhaka (Bangladesh) medical college protesting against the unfair suspension of one of their colleagues. The suspended student attempted suicide in frustration on January 26, 2022 evening. KL Image: Special Arrangement
After two mysterious deaths of two girls studying in Bangladesh medical schools, Kashmiri students somehow saved another student – a resident of Srinagar, second before he would choke to death. He had hung himself to the ceiling fan of his room after the management of the International Medical College Dhaka suspended him for six months. During an inter-semester football match, a Kashmiri student had an argument with a Bengali student. The issue was managed on the pitch itself. More than three weeks after the incident, the college issued a notice on January 26 suspending the Kashmiri strident for six months. Though the Kashmiri student community tried to make a reason for the decision with the college management, it did not help. The same evening, the boy was saved moments before he would die. He was rushed to the hospital where he made another attempt by using the oxygen pipe. This triggered a serious protest by the students forcing the college management to withdraw the decision. The students, however, insisted that they are facing a lot of problems more within campus than outside.
Of the 939 police medals announced across India; JK Police bagged a lion’s share of 115 for gallantry. Another 19 personnel were awarded for their gallant action in Jammu and Kashmir.
BANDIPORE
In a first, a coach Faisal Ali Dar was given Padma Shri for spearheading a campaign for martial arts in his area. Son of a technician working in the state health department, Dar, 33, would train kids at a local park. Dar had started as a wushu player in 2003 and was later trained by Kuldeep Handoo in Jammu. Though he did not get the best from the competitions, in 2008 he started an academy to train the new generation. For running his Ali Sports Academy he would work in apple orchards and fit TV dishes in the locality. He would charge Rs 50 from every kid from a month. Now he runs 18 sports – including wushu, taekwondo, rugby, canoeing, kayaking, volleyball, table tennis, badminton and football – by involving a chain of coaches in Pulwama, Anantnag, Shopian, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Ganderbal and Srinagar, to train around 13,000 kids.
SHOPIAN
Former PDP MLA, Abdul Razak Zawoora Shopian
Abdul Razak, the former PDP member, who represented Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir’s erstwhile assembly died after a prolonged illness. He was 92. He had won the 2008 assembly elections. A resident of Zawoora, Razak is survived by his wife, six daughters – all settled, and a son. This is the second former lawmaker that PDP lost. A week earlier, PDP lost Yashpal Sharma, 76, in a cardiac arrest. He was a member of the Political Affairs Committee of the party.
BUDGAM
Adil Teli, a Budgam cyclist who holds the record for K2K, a rare feat he achieved in March 2021.
Adil Teli’s journey as the fastest man to cycle from Kashmir to Kanyakumari was broadcast on History TV18’s programme, OMG Yeh Mera India. Teli last year made the Guinness World Record as the fastest man to cycle from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in a record time beating the previous record by about six hours. Teli is from the Budgam. He covered K2K in eight days, one hour and 37 minutes. He is the second Kashmiri to be featured by the programme. In 2019, the show featured football trick shot artist, Huzaif Shah.
RAJOURI
On BJP complaint, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested a father-son. They had shared a video from social media that BJP members felt insulting and approached the police. The identity of the father-son duo hailing from Chingas was not immediately known.
JAMMU
Divisional Commissioner P K Police visiting the hospitals in Srinagar on January 8, 2022. Also seen in the picture is Principal GMC, Srinagar and her team.
Jammu and Kashmir administration is going ahead with a new plan that will hand over the administration of premier hospitals associated with the Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) to lower and middle rung officials. There has been resistance from the GMCs in Jammu and Srinagar but the babus have seemingly decided to go ahead with the radical disruption. Doctors who have been teaching for years said the intervention will ruin the institutions and push the professional decision-makers aside and get the GMCs derecognised. They see it as a violation of the National Medical Commission’s guidelines. They see it happening for the first time in India.
The intervention envisages routing all the administrative files and flow of information through a new pyramid where the Administrative Officers to Personal Officers to Administrators are at the top. “It is a clear infringement on the rights and jurisdiction of the executive heads of the medical institutions ensured by the National Medical Commission and University Grants Commission,” the MFA said in a statement. They insist the plan is against patient care as the nuances of healthcare and medical education can better be understood by an administrative head from a medical background and not from administrative service.
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SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday identified the slain militants killed in twin encounters at South Kashmir’s Pulwama and central Kashmir’s Budgam.
A police spokesman in a statement said that during during the past 12 hours two successful anti-militant operations were conducted by Police, CRPF and Army in Pulwama and Budgam districts resulting in killing of five militants linked with proscribed outfits JeM/LeT.
“The slain militants include a top JeM commander Zahid Wani and a foreign Pakistani militant Kafeel Bhai @Chotu,” said the spokesman.
“In Pulwama, acting on specific information regarding presence of militants in village Naira, a joint cordon and search operation was launched by Police, 55RR and 182/183Bn CRPF in the said area,” he said.
“While laying down the cordon of the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately on the joint search parties. However, due to darkness and to ensure safety of the civilians trapped inside the cordon area, the joint parties exercised maximum restraint,” he added.
“After evacuation of the civilians to the safer places, the fire was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, 04 militants were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. They have been identified as Zahid Ahmad Wani @Uzair (a top commander) resident of Karimabad Pulwama, foreign militant Kafeel Bhari @Chotu resident of Pakistan, Waheed Ahmad Reshi resident of Khadermoh Kakapora and Inayat Ahmad Mir resident of Naira Pulwama,” said the spokesman.
“As per police records, the killed militants were linked with proscribed outfit JeM and were part of group involved in several crime cases including attacks on Police/SFs and civilian atrocities,” he said, adding that “the killed militant Zahid Wani was a categorized militant active since May-2017 and involved in several crime cases including attacks on forces and civilian atrocities.”
“He was involved in an attack on patrolling party of 44RR at Below Rajpora, attack on patrolling party of 55RR at Tiken Pulwama, attack on patrolling party of 50RR at Parigam, grenade attack on PS Pulwama and firing upon CRPF camp at Rajpora. Besides, he was also involved in killing of one civilian Azad Ahmad Dar of Kangan Pulwama. Moreover, militant Zahid Wani was also instrumental in motivating the gullible youth to join militant folds and other criminal activities,” said police spokesman in a statement.
“It is pertinent to mention that the slain militant Zahid Wani was one of the masterminds behind various IED attacks. The slain foreign militant Kafeel Bhai was operating in the Pulwama and Shopian belts and involved in a series of crime cases. The slain militant Waheed Ahmad was active since 2021 while as Inayat Ahmad had joined militant folds recently,” he said.
“Incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including 01 M4 rifle, 02 AK series rifles and 02 Pistols have been recovered from the site of encounter,” he added.
Meanwhile, another anti- militant operation was launched in village Chahr-e-Sharif area of Budgam by Police, 53RR and 181Bn CRPF. As the joint search parties were approaching towards suspected spot, the hiding militant started firing indiscriminately on the search parties which was retaliated leading to an encounter, said police spokesman.
“In the ensuing encounter, the hiding militant identified as Bilal Ahmad Khan resident of Chill Brass Khansahab was killed and his body was retrieved from the site of encounter. As per police records, he was a categorized militant and linked with proscribed outfit LeT (TRF) and part of groups involved in several crime cases,” he said.
He said that incriminating materials, arms ammunition including 01 AK-56 rifle, 02 AK Magazines and 05 AK rounds have been recovered from the site of encounter.
“IGP Kashmir while addressing a joint press conference at Army Headquarters Balpora, termed the killing of most wanted militants as a big success and congratulated the joint forces for conducting successful anti-militant operations without any collateral damage,” said the spokesman.
“He also said that, during the current year, so far 21 militants including 8 foreign militants have been neutralized in 11 anti-militant operations and 13 militants among them were linked with proscribed outfit JeM,” he said.
Police have registered cases under relevant sections of law regarding both the encounters and further investigation is in progress, said the spokesman.
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SRINAGAR: The Out-Patient Department (OPD) services will start immediately at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jammu, and the first batch will move and operate from the premises from June 1 this year.
“The second batch will continue thereafter. The 30-member faculty has already been inducted and the entire six-storey AIIMS building will be ready by early next year,” Union Minister of State for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh, said on Saturday.
The Minister was on a visit to AIIMS at Jammu for the inspection of the upcoming new blocks and inauguration of the recently-developed facilities, during which he suggested that in order to develop an exclusive identity for the institution, the focus should be on the futuristic areas.
While appreciating the progress made during the brief period since Shakti Gupta took over as the Director of AIIMS Jammu, Singh suggested that in order to develop an exclusive identity for the institution, the focus should be on futuristic areas like Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AIIMS could be a pioneer in North India in developing AI-based healthcare infrastructure.
Asserting that AI and Digital Medicine are critical for the future of healthcare, the Minister said, “Tele-medicine and robotic surgery have already taken over in a big way and the indispensable utility of these new options was realised during the pandemic times.”
The minister also announced that AIIMS Jammu will function in close collaboration with CSIR-IIIM, Jammu.
An MoU was signed in the presence of the Minister, between AIIMS Jammu Director Shakti Gupta and CSIR-IIIM Jammu Director D Srinivasa Reddy on behalf of the two institutions.
“It is an irony that CSIR-IIIM Jammu and Government Medical College Jammu existed in the close vicinity of just about 4 km from each other and even though both the institutions were dedicated to medical research, there was hardly any collaboration between the two in the past. Every effort would be made to bring in closer integration of IIIM with GMC and also between IIIM Jammu and AIIMS Jammu, both of which happen to be Central government institutions,” he said. (IANS)
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SRINAGAR: Top security officials Sunday said that five militants were killed in twin encounters in past 12 hours—four in Naira, Pulwama district and one in Charar-e-Shareef area of Budgam district. They said among the four slain in Naira, Pulwama was the wanted Jaish-e-Muhammad outfit’s Kashmir chief for south Kashmir Zahid Manzoor Wani.
Addressing a joint press conference at Balapur, Shopian, the General officer Commanding (GoC) of South Kashmir based Victor Force Lieutenant General Prashant Srivastava said that acting on a specific lead, joint teams of police, army and CRPF laid a siege in Naira village of Pulwama on Saturday evening. “In the initial assault, three militants were killed and later the presence of another militant was established and he was also killed and identified as Zahid Manzoor Wani, an IED expert and the JeM’s south Kashmir chief,” news agency KNO quoted the GoC Victor Force as having said. He was the mastermind of IED attacks carried out in South Kashmir since 2017 and the main recruiter of local boys into the militancy fold. “His killing is a big success for forces,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that during the operation, the house owner’s son Inayat Ahmed, was asked to surrender but he along with the militants opened fire at the security forces and got killed. “He was a hybrid militant,” the IGP said. He said that the house owner at Naira, Pulwama, in whose house the encounter took place, will be booked under UAPA.
He said the killing of JeM commander Zahid Manzoor Wani, who was the wanted commander of JeM, was killed along with his three associates while another militant of LeT was killed in an encounter at Charar-e-Shareef in Budgam district. “In total, five militants, of which four were killed in Naira, Pulwama and one in Budgam in the past 12 hours,” he said. The IGP said that Zahid was in fact the chief of JeM for the entire Kashmir. “His brother was also a militant and is in jail,” the IGP said.
The IGP said that since January 1, 11 encounters took place in which 21 militants including eight foreigners were killed. “Foreigners who were hiding in forests are coming and settling down in civilian areas. With the help of human and technical inputs, we are zeroing in on them and killing them in clean operations,” he said, adding that in both the operations, there were no casualties to security forces. He said all efforts are in place to bring down local militant recruitment and a strategy is being followed to bring the number of active militants less than 100 this year.
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SRINAGAR: The meteorological department (MeT) on Sunday predicted light rain, snowfall in Kashmir from January 31.
Sonam Lotus, Director of Meteorological Department, said currently, weather is partly to generally cloudy at most places of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Possibility of light rain and snow on January 31 to February 1 at scattered places and February 3,” he said, adding that the overall, weather likely to remain partly to generally cloudy next week starting tomorrow.”
He added that there’s no forecast of any major weather till the first week of February.
Gulmarg in north Kashmir the famous tourist place was the coldest place in the Valley where the minimum temperature was minus 7.4 degrees.
Srinagar, the summer capital of the state recorded a low of minus 2.3 while the mercury in Qazigund in south Kashmir settled at a low of minus 3.2 degrees Celsius.
The night temperature in Pahalgam a famous tourist resort–settled at a low of minus 7.0 degrees.
Kokernag town recorded a low of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius while Kupwara town in north Kashmir registered a low of minus 2.4 degrees Celsius last night.
Jammu city recorded 6.6 degrees Celsius, Katra 7.6, Batote 2.4, Banihal recorded 0.6 and Bhaderwah recorded minus 0.6 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperatures.
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SRINAGAR: India registered 2,34,281 Covid cases and 893 deaths in a span of 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Sunday.
With the addition of fresh fatalities, the death toll mounted to 4,94,091.
Active caseload has reported a marginal decline at 18,84,937 which constitute 4.59 per cent of the country’s total cases.
With the recovery of 3,52,784 patients in the last 24 hours, a total of 3,87,13,494 have been cured of the virus. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 94.21 per cent.
Also in the same period, a total of 16,15,993 tests were conducted across the country, pushing the cumulative tests to over 72.73 crore.
Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 16.40 per cent, while daily positivity rate has reported a marginal rise at 14.50 per cent.
With the administration of over 62 lakhs vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, the country’s Covid inoculation coverage has reached 165.70 crore as of Sunday morning.
More than 12.43 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, the ministry added. (IANS)
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SRINAGAR: A militant was killed in an overnight operation in Chrar-i-Sharief area of the central Kashmir’s Budgam district, an official said on Sunday.
An official said that one militant affiliated with LeT has been killed in an overnight gunfight at Chrar-i-Sharief area.
SRINAGAR: To safeguard teenagers in the age group of 15-17 years from Covid-19 infection and ensure enabling environment for schools to move towards reopening, the District Administration Srinagar on day held an interaction session under the Chairmanship of Additional Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Khurshid Ahmad Shah with heads of various Schools and Senior Health functionaries at Banquet Hall, here.
The interaction session was held on the directions of the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad which was attended by Sub Divisional Magistrate East/ Nodal Officer Covid-19 Mitigations, Owais Mushtaq, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Jameel, Deputy Chief Education Officer, Anjum Raja, Zonal Education Officers, Principals and Heads of various Government Schools, Zonal Medical Officers and all Tehsildars of Srinagar, besides representatives of various Private Schools of the district.
During the meeting, a threadbare deliberation was held with regard to ongoing process of Covid-19 vaccination for 15-17 age group in Srinagar District and target achieved till date.
The meeting was informed that in Srinagar district over 83000 teenagers under 15-17 age group are targeted to inoculate anti Covid-19 dots. It was also given out that total 9312 students under 15-17 age group are enrolled in 111 Government Schools in the district out of which 7045 students have been inoculated Covid-19 jabs, while left out students will be covered under the process soon.
Similarly, the meeting was informed that over 5000 students enrolled in 174 private schools have also been administered necessary Covid-19 shots.
On the occasion, the ADC asked all other private schools to update their students registration details so that all students under 15-17 age group are inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine within one week to achieve the set target.
Speaking on the occasion, the Additional Deputy Commissioner said that decisions with regard to vaccination, their research, approval and certification has been scientifically driven. He said vaccinations for children aged between 15 and 17 will not only protect students from the deadly effects of Covid-19 pandemic but also go a long way in assuring worried parents for sending their wards to schools.
He stressed on better coordination between Education and Health Departments to achieve the cent percent target by February 03.
The ADC said the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar is personally monitoring the vaccination process on a regular basis to ensure a viable environment for schools to reopen for offline classes.
ADC further said in wake of present Covid-19 situation, the students under the target age group can inoculate the Covid-19 jab at any vaccination site as per their convenience and the same can be submitted to school authorities through WhatsApp for updation of record at School level.
The ADC asked the authorities of both Government and Private Schools to ensure all students under 15-17 age group are vaccinated by Feb 03. He also asked them to upload links regarding registration of students.
The ADC also asked the CMO Srinagar to speed up the pace of ongoing vaccination process of the target group and keep close liaison with all school heads so that the process is completed within a weeks’ time.
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SRINAGAR: Prof Saifuddin Soz has said he has written a letter to Home Minister pleading for the release of three Kashmiri students – Arshad Yousuf, Inayat Altaf Sheikh and Showkat Ahmad Ganai. The trio was arrested and lodged in Agra jail in October 2021 for allegedly cheering for the Pakistani cricket team.
“I invited the attention of the Home Minister to the fact that till now, the police had not been able to prove that these three Kashmiri students had cheered for the Pakistani team,” Soz said in a statement. “Instead, it was found that they had conveyed a screenshot of greetings to their friends.”
Soz said that the country’s legal system would help them move out of jail, finally, “but, it would be more graceful to release them immediately.”
The three students have now been formally charged by UP Police with cyber terrorism, sedition, promoting enmity between different groups and making statements likely to cause alarm to the public. The charge sheet was presented to the Agra chief judicial magistrate’s early this week. They will now be prosecuted, reports quoting the judicial order of January 27, said.
The trio was denied bail by the court.
The trio was arrested on October 27, three days after India lost to Pakistan in the world cup on October 24, 2021. The police were acting on the complaint by a local BJP leader. Beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme, were pursuing a course in civil engineering at Agra’s Raja Balwant Singh Engineering Technical College. A day after the match, the college authorities suspended the trio after finding “objectionable content” in their WhatsApp messenger statuses.
The students did not get a lawyer locally so the families hired a lawyer from the neighbouring Mathura district.
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Paper books have a one-of-a-kind smell, feel, and weight, permitting the reader to have an encounter that includes the faculties in general. Printed books are actual items that can review recollections of previous occasions and recorded occurrences.
“A room without books resembles a body without a spirit.” Marcus Tullius Cicero
Advanced innovation has without a doubt profoundly affected the conventional book distributing and retailing areas. The never-ending question that all book lovers ask is whether the book business is passing on slowly. Book lovers accept that the annihilation of printed books is unthinkable. Notwithstanding, many express that printed books might vanish soon, as today electronic gadgets can without much of a stretch supplant them.
Well before Gutenberg developed the print machine, admittance to composed sources like parchments, authentic accounts, or books was thought to be an extravagance. Prior to creating printing machines, books were replicated by hand in a meticulous interaction before most were lost to wars or catastrophic events. Be that as it may, the innovation of the print machine in the fifteenth century upset the manner in which books are duplicated and, alongside it, individuals’ perusing propensities changed.
In today’s tech times, e-books and other advanced reading materials are acquiring high notoriety. However certain individuals foresee that with the advancement of digital books, conventional paper books have lost their significance. While there are solid feelings that advanced books can’t supplant printed books. Simultaneously, some reiterate that digital books don’t convey the similar rawness and substantial quality as printed books can do. Besides, the sensation of claiming a book is very unique in relation to visiting the web-based library. The fixation level of the reader and better comprehension of the characters is a major piece of perusing a printed book.
Yet again as of now, in the twenty-first century, mechanical endowments like-the web, savvy sheets, and tablets are upgrading our perusing and learning propensities altogether, and, readers can approach a huge assortment of books in a web-based library in a tick. Advanced offices are coordinating the manners in which we read and buy books.
All in all, there is a question, are paper books truly vanishing soon? A solution to this question doesn’t come without any problem. That digital books have surged in fame lately isn’t news, however, where they are gone and what impacts this will eventually have on the printed word – is very obscure. Over the long run, perusing has taken up different structures and configurations. Book shops have seen a fall in deals due to the development of digital books on the web. Individuals likewise really like to get news refreshes through different news applications on their PDAs or workstations. The significance of perusing, be that as it may, is higher now than any time in recent memory.
Over the most recent 10 years or thereabouts, the world has changed into something which would never have been envisioned by any of us. The headway in PCs and correspondence innovation has rolled out this improvement occurred. As per a report in The New York Times, from 2008 to 2010 digital book deals soar, bouncing up to 1,260 per cent. Presumably, we are in a temporary period. The screen readings consistently improve and extend, offering individuals motivation to change to screens. The audiences of printed books retain and recall a greater amount of the plots than audiences of digital books do. A prior investigation discovered that print readers scored higher in comprehension of the story.
Electronic books can cause screen weakness prompting obscured vision, redness, dryness, and bothering. A large number of examinations have shown that understudies who have books at home are bound to score higher on tests. One late investigation of understudies in the US, Slovakia, Japan, and Germany showed that 92 per cent of members favoured paper books that they can hold and contact and leaf through at whatever point they need.
However, individuals appear to quit any pretence of purchasing books in enormous numbers, the paper books should not vanish. Paper books are amazingly durable. All around made books will last many years, and surprisingly inexpensively made books are as yet clear for a really long time. No electronic gadget is so sturdy. They don’t need power or the web. For some regions of the planet, paper books are undeniably more helpful, available, and more collectable even in modest variants. They are as yet simpler to write notes in, underline, make little drawings in the edges, and so on
Books can be undeniably more assorted in actual configuration and design. We can have enormous, rich workmanship books, minuscule verse chapbooks, fat books with slim fresh paper or slight books with smooth thick paper with deckle edges, and so forth. They can have second, third, fourth, fifth, versions, and it keeps on holding esteem. Despite what might be expected, a digital book, when perused, is illiquid, so they are basically less important.
Printed books won’t ever kick the bucket; however, they might confront difficulties to exist in the current advanced time. Digital books can have distinctive, bright computerized covers, yet nothing can supplant the effect of an actual book. For craftsmanship authorities, genuine pursuers, and genuine savants, print is the main medium that may just fulfil them. Paper books have a one-of-a-kind smell, feel, and weight, permitting the reader to have an encounter that includes the faculties in general. Printed books are actual items that can review recollections of previous occasions and recorded occurrences. Each duplicate is remarkable and individual to the reader. A hardcover adaptation on one’s rack is like a unique painting on our dividers. Printed books are promptly more valuable and appreciated for its better.
Printed books ought to stay in our grasp for the purpose of our scholarly presence. In this unique situation, scholars, distributors, and readers play different parts. Consequently, we should purchase books for the good of our own and for our youngsters. The children gain from their folks and construct propensities from their folks. Assuming we read books routinely, our children will begin perusing and will foster understanding propensity.
Consistently, book fairs are organized in better places all over the planet to give individuals inspiration to peruse by offering them a wide choice of books to pick they can check out before they choose to purchase ones. The fair gives readers across ages a chance to choose and peruse books together. This improves the probability that they will need to keep perusing books of various nature.
Naveed Parra
Printed books are not biting the dust a demise; they are digging in for the long haul till humans exist in this universe. There are a great many paper books accessible on the lookout; and a portion of the old original copies which can’t be changed over into computerized structures.
Although digital books are gleaming and beautiful, they can’t give a similar impact as actual books sway bibliophiles. Be that as it may, various crowds have various inclinations, giving every medium its own significance. It is emphatically accepted that both customary paper books and computerized books have their own audiences. Perusing on paper books can enhance the entire experience, yet it’s by all account not the only accomplishment that paper can pull off. Since the current age is more innovation sharp, they will quite often utilize advanced books. Despite the fact that digital books have a prosperous future, paper books won’t ever vanish.
(Author is a lawyer at J&K High Court and LL.D scholar at School of Law, Kashmir University. The opinions expressed in this write-up are those of the author’s and do not purport to reflect the views of Kashmir Life.)
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SRINAGAR: Unknown masked men barged into a house in Chichlora area of Baramulla last night and according to the residents they took away gold and cash.
Quoting official sources news agency GNS reported that four masked men entered inside the house of Bilal Ahmad Kutoo and Faizal Ahmad Mir son-in-law of Mohammad Ramzan Gojri at Chichlora.
The family is learnt to have informed the police that masked men were carrying three pistols and took their phones before collecting 2 gold rings and two kada tops besides Rs 52000 cash from the family members. They kept the phones near the house before running away.
A police officer said that a case (FIR No. 11/2022) under section 7/25 IA Act and 382 IPC (committing of theft with an intention to hurt in case of resistance) has been registered in Police Station Kunzer.
He said that investigation has so far revealed that thieves may probably have been carrying toy pistols, however “all angles are being looked into,” the officer added.
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SRINAGAR: Cold wave conditions continued in the Kashmir Valley on Saturday as minimum temperatures remained below the freezing point.
Sonam Lotus, director of the MeT department said, “As the weather is likely to remain dry till January 31, as the minimum temperatures continue to remain low during the coming days.”
The 40-day long period of harsh winter cold called locally the ‘Chillai Kalan’ which started in the Valley on December 21 will end on January 31.
The famous ski resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the coldest place in the Valley where the minimum temperature was minus 7.5 degrees.
Pahalgam, the famous health resort which also serves as one of the base camps for the annual Amarnath Yatra in south Kashmir recorded a low of minus 2.8 degrees Celsius.
Srinagar, the summer capital of the state recorded a low of minus 1.0 degrees Celsius while Qazigund in south Kashmir registered a low of minus 3.1 degrees Celsius.
Kokernag town recorded a low of minus 3.3 degrees Celsius while Kupwara town in north Kashmir registered a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius last night.
Jammu city recorded 6.9 degrees Celsius, Katra 6.0, Batote 0.9, Banihal recorded minus 0.6 and Bhaderwah recorded 0.6 degrees Celsius as the night’s lowest temperatures.
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SRINAGAR: The body of a second person, who had drowned along with his brother in the river Jehlum at Khawaja Bagh area of Baramulla in north Kashmir, was fished out on Saturday morning.
Quoting officials the news agency KNO reported that the body of second victim identified as Naseer Ahmad, son of Manzoor Ahmad Malla of Laharwalpora Bandipora district was retrieved from the river Jehlum today.
After completing all the legal and medical formalities, the body of the deceased will be handed over to his relatives for the last rites, they said.
On Friday morning, two siblings including Hilal Ahmad and his brother Naseer Ahmad were drowned in the river Jehlum while extracting sand in Khawajabagh area following which a massive rescue operation was launched by the administration.
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SRINAGAR: Peoples Democratic Party nominated advocate Muzaffar Nabi Lone as Vice President district Budgam.
Muzaffar Nabi Lone
A statement issued by PDP said that a practicing lawyer at the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, Lone has been a panel lawyer of the J&K High Court Legal Services Authority for the past 6 years, and had also represented the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in numerous cases.
Lone is son of a former cabinet minister and former MLA Chrar-e-Shareef, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura.
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SRINAGAR: A Special Police Officer (SPO), guarding a pandit family has died of a massive cardiac arrest in Budmulla Narvaw area north Kashmir’s Baramulla district l.
Quoting officials the news agency KNO reported that SPO identified as Shakeel Ahmad Rather, son of Ali Mohmmad Rather of Malpora Narwaw passed away due to cardiac arrest.
They said that the deceased was posted as a security guard for the pandit family at Budmulla Narvaw area of the district.
The officials said that after conducting the medical-legal formalities, the body will be handed over to the relatives for last rites.
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SRINAGAR: In the last 24 hours, India logged 2,35,532 new Covid cases and 871 deaths, the union Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The additional fatalities increased the overall death toll to 4,93,198.
Meanwhile, the active caseload has reported a marginal decline at 20,04,333 which account for 4.91 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.
The recovery of 3,35,939 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,83,60,710. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 93.89 per cent.
Also in the same period, a total of 17,59,434 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total to 72.57 crore.
Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 16.89 per cent, while daily positivity rate has come down to 13.39 per cent.
With the administration of over 56 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid inoculation coverage reached 165.04 crore as of Saturday morning.
More than 12 crore balance and unutilised doses are still available with the states and UTs. ( IANS)
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SRINAGAR: Kashmir University on Friday announced that all pending exams of the varsity will be held in “offline” mode and the date sheets will be issued soon.
Reacting to the demand of some students including Nursing Students’ who are seeking “online” exams, Controller of Examinations, KU, Prof Irshad A Nawchoo said that all pending and recently-postponed examinations shall be held in “offline” (pen-paper) mode. “No examination shall be held in online mode.”
The University is already in the process of redrafting and issuing datesheets for various pending examinations, which shall commence soon after the pandemic situation eases, he said.
“The University is closely watching the situation and shall possibly issue all datesheets at the earliest to ensure timely declaration of results/ completion of degrees,” news agency GNS quoted Controller of Examinations, KU, Prof Irshad A Nawchoo as having said.
“Students are advised to ready themselves for offline examinations in accordance with the necessary guidelines, policies in vogue,” he said, adding, “Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) shall be strictly adhered to during the conduct of said examinations.”
He said students, in their own interest, must frequently visit the University website to know their datesheets, as and when these are uploaded.
“The University is committed to work in the best interests of students, who are our primary stakeholders, keeping in view their future prospects without compromising, in any manner, the sanctity of Examinations,” he added.
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SRINAGAR: A special police officer (SPO), posted with Government Railway Police, succumbed to injuries he had suffered after being hit by a train while trying to save a person on the railway track near Kakapora Pulwama railway station earlier this week.
The civilian identified as one Showkat Ahmad Dar son of Abdul Rashid Dar, a resident of BKpora Budgam was killed on the spot while the SPO Shabir Ahmad posted at Kakapora succumbed to the injuries at a hospital in Srinagar, officials said.
Quoting a police officer news agency GNS reported that the injured cop was admitted at Super Specialty Hospital at Shireen Bagh Srinagar where he however succumbed to his injuries this afternoon. “Further investigations are underway,” the officer added.
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SRINAGAR: A massive search operation has been launched after two brothers drowned in River Jehlum here at Khawajabagh area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Friday.
Quoting officials the news agency KNO reported that two brothers identified as Hilal Ahmad Malla and Naseer Ahmad Malla of Bandipora were drowned in the river Jehlum during sand extraction at Khawajabagh area.
The officials said that soon after the incident, a massive rescue operation was launched by authorities to trace the duo.
More details are awaited.
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Kashmir’s desperation to have a doctor in a family helped Bangladesh emerge as the new destination for medical training. After a medical student’s mysterious death recently,Raashid Andrabitalked to many students and found everything is not hanky-dory
Kashmiri students stuck in Bangladesh demand immediate evacuation, a March 2020 photograph
Kashmiri parents are literally busy in a race to have at least one doctor at home. Triggering huge commerce, this race has converted Dhaka into Kashmir’s major destination for medical studies. An average of 700 to 800 students fly to Bangladesh in a year. In five to six years, parents foot a bill of not less than Rs 40 lakhs.
But not every student in Bangladesh is all right. Many of them have stories to share. These disturbing stories may not be everybody’s story and it may not be happening in all the colleges where Kashmiris study but these stories do exist.
Of the dozen-odd students approached last week, four were able to pen down their problems and give vent to the crisis they believe they are in. They could be a minority but they are facing it. All of them agreed to write only after being assured that their names would not be revealed.
‘I am On Anti-Depressants’
I’d always wanted to be a doctor, but I couldn’t get into a medical school in Kashmir. As a result, I persuaded my parents to allow me the opportunity to continue my education in Bangladesh. As a foreigner in Dhaka, I had to contend with several challenges, which are to be expected in a new country. Our teachers are mostly doctors. Some are friendly, but others perceive us as simple Dollars going around. Teachers are the role models of the students, but what if the teacher you look up to traumatizes you or wants money or other favours in exchange for him not purposefully failing you in exams. Imagine all of your hard work is for nothing. In Kashmir, there is a popular idea that Bangladesh grants degrees to anyone who throws money at them, but this is all a lie. I don’t feel like I have a life now.
I am on anti-depressants for one year.”
People carry the body of an MBBS student, who died in a Bangladesh College on Wednesday at her native village in Budgam on Saturday, January 15, 2022
“I Need A Doc Before Becoming One”
“Our offline classes started in September 2021 after Covid lockdown ended. Because of a visa snag, I arrived in Bangladesh in the second week of October. On the 13th of October at approximately 10 pm, I arrived at the hostel and was about to enter when the guard stopped me and asked for my name, Id(entity), and other information, which I provided. He told me that I could not stay in the hostel. I was a little worried, so I asked him why he couldn’t let me in. He replied, “Your registration has been revoked, and your admission has been cancelled by the college administration, thus you are not a student of our college, and as a fact, I am unable to allow you to the hostel. It was 10:30 pm, and they asked me to go to any hotel. I had flown from Kashmir alone, without any friends. I asked them to please let me stay at the hostel because it would be problematic for me to find a hotel at 10:30 pm as a female, but they wouldn’t even let me sit inside for 10 minutes. Then I headed for a one-hour walk on the road. I contacted the college secretary and the hostel in charge, but no one answered for an hour.
After an hour, I begged the hostel in charge to let me remain for the night, she eventually agreed. The next day the secretary told me that staying here was pointless. I was trembling and wailing because they were telling me to return home after two years. My registration was cancelled because I returned home during the epidemic and my agent failed to submit my certificate. My agency persuaded the college secretary to try to handle my equivalency, although he was unable to do so for three months in a row. I was not allowed to eat in the hostel for more than three months.
I wasn’t allowed to join classes for three months, so I was confined inside a hostel room. Today, I have my certificates and my registration is complete, but our exams began on January 2nd and as a result, I was unable to sit in the exams.
Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh premier with, Prime Minister Narendra Modi
“We Thought of Suicide”
“I am a third-year medical student at an international medical school. We have a lot of issues here, such as the issue of favouritism and negligence by teachers. These actions have caused many students to take antidepressants. They set their own rules and show favouritism to kids who excel academically. We have already lost a lot of time that our parents, as well as ourselves, are counting on us for.
Mentally, I’m at my lowest point; I’ve never felt so hopeless before. Nothing makes sense when you feel like you’ve lost self-control. We even feel suicidal or use medicines in order to sleep peacefully, if only for a while. I urge all foreign students in Bangladesh to keep an eye out for one another. Seniors, in particular, should look after their younger ones. Perhaps you’ll be able to save someone’s life.
With so much money and hope on the line, it’s impossible to simply quit.
Second flight carrying stranded students from Bangladesh to reach Srinagar today, a May 2020 photograph
“They Humiliated My Family”
I’m currently a third-year student here and like the rest of us, I have suffered my share of mental trauma. I never wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to study literature and was interested in the arts. My parents didn’t approve and neither did anyone else in my family. I wanted to go to Delhi and study in some good college. My parents got me admitted here instead. I protested a lot, in the beginning, I eventually gave in to their wishes. When I got here it was nothing like what I had expected.
I knew I would have to study a lot but it wasn’t just that. I had never stayed away from my family for a single night. Now I was alone in a whole new country. On top of all that I was already struggling with my mental health. In such a state the smallest gesture can either make a person better or throw off their balance completely.
I was trying hard, barely slept. We used to study till fajr but still kept failing. Our teachers were not even humane leave alone encouraging. They call you a failure at your face. Even if you have a medical emergency they say it’s no excuse because it isn’t their fault.
I was attending all classes. Some nine months passed this way and I used to cry every day. I couldn’t tell my parents because I thought they’d get worried.
Then Article 370 happened and I couldn’t talk to my family for two months. That pushed me into a spiral of depression I couldn’t get out of. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder with anxiety. I got self-destructive, got insomnia, lost weight and eventually got suicidal. I remember crying every night wishing I would die.
Once I called a friend at 3 am, crying, telling him I wanted to die. He talked me out of it, stayed on the phone till morning and told me we would visit a doctor. And then forgot about it. That’s how it is here.
A group of Kashmiri students in a Dhaka (Bangladesh) medical college protesting against the unfair suspension of one of their colleagues. The suspended student attempted suicide in frustration on January 26, 2022 evening. KL Image: Special Arrangement
Sometime later I decided to go home when I wasn’t getting better. All the medicines had made me numb and lifeless. I used to sleep for days altogether. When I got home my father cried looking at me, I looked miserable. I had just got home and came to know my aunt had recently passed away. I had planned on seeing her first when I got back. She was sick and I hadn’t seen her in years. That guilt and grief tore me apart. I stayed home for 8 days and went back.
In a few days, corona hit, and lockdown happened. When we got back home we were treated like a biohazard. All of us were quarantined. Those days of staying in the hotel with strangers in the state of mind I was in, was a cherry on top.
But Covid was a blessing in disguise as I got to stay at home which made me better. I even stopped taking medicines. When we had to come back nine months later for final exams hell set to lose again. All the while we had appeared in exams online. And the same HOD called me up and accused me of changing my number so didn’t have to appear in the exam. She insulted my family and said it was the fault of my upbringing.
Students of International Medical College Dhaka protesting against the suspension of a Kashmiri student. KL Image: Special Arrangement
Finals went over like that, crying and not sleeping. I failed a subject. Our supplementary exams were announced in the middle of lockdown. Flights were suspended so we had to travel by road. We were turned away at the border for not having complete documents. The embassy was closed for the next two days. Stayed in a hotel for a few days until eventually flights resumed.
A day of sanity and the rest of the week is a rollercoaster ride. There is already a lot of pressure on studies. But having a toxic environment and no support is what breaks one back.
I heard some people debate about this girl’s death. They said if she didn’t want to be here why didn’t she just go back home. But I know it isn’t that easy. There is this guilt of not being enough that comes with it, of letting your parent’s expectations down. When you can’t do anything about all these things, the helplessness is unspeakable.
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