Category: National

Srinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has has lost over three lakh followers on his Twitter account after the announcement of demonitising Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

“Besides anger on the streets, confusion in markets and banks, Modi also appears to be facing a backlash on Twitter – a medium where he has ruled the roost for long,” reported Catch News. 

‘Prepare plan to dissuade youth from unlawful activities’

Srinagar: Following the reports from intelligence agencies that some people were still positively active in fanning unrest in the valley, Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked law enforcing agencies of Jammu and Kashmir to identify such people and go tough against them, KNS has learnt.
The MHA has also asked the state government to prepare a roadmap and action plan for stopping youths from the unlawful activities including stone pelting.
Reliable Sources told KNS on Monday that the intelligence agencies have informed the top officials of the MHA dealing with security related issues of Jammu and Kashmir, that some people are still fuming unrest in the valley. “After analyzing the reports the ministry has asked Jammu and Kashmir police to identify instigators and take strict action against them.” sources in the MHA informed.
The MHA believes that the role of such instigators could be the reason for stone-pelting incidents occurring in a synchronized manner throughout the valley during the unrest.
The directions assume significance as the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had also reiterated that young boys were being made shields by the miscreants during the unrest.
Hinting that police would go tough against the stone pelting incidents, the police sources said that police are identifying the people behind the stone pelting. “Police are identifying the people who are continuously involved or are behind stone pelting. After identification strict action under the law will be taken,” sources said.
Meanwhile sources said that the ministry of home affairs (MHA) has also asked the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir to keep a vigil on separatist activities.
It is to mention here that the Jammu and Kashmir police have launched a massive crackdown against “what they called miscreants in Kashmir and arrested thousands from across the valley.
Meanwhile sources said that centre has asked the government to prepare a roadmap and action plan for stopping youths from stone pelting and other unlawful activities.
Centre has also suggested the state administration to come up with an outreach programme which will involve engaging with the stakeholders including elders in the community.
Sources said that the centre government has also maintained that they will help the state government for generating employment for youth. (KNS)

Srinagar: The Editors Guild of India has strongly condemned the “unprecedented” decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded.

Srinagar: One among the three Kashmiri journalists who swept prestigious Ramnath GoenkaAward on Wednesday in a ceremony held in New Delhi was a Srinagar girl who always wanted to become a commercial pilot but ended up journalist to “tell the stories of ordinary people”.

Shortly after receiving the award, Ashwaq Masoodi — a news reporter with Mint —termed it recognition of her “hard work and perseverance”.

“I am happy that I received the award,” Ashwaq told.

The scribe received the award for two stories she did for Mint—“Breaking the caste barrier” and “Wrestling to succeed”. The awarded stories (Ramnath Goenka award for Uncovering Invisible India) are part of a series she did on aspirations of the young in India in 2015. The two awarded stories were socio-economic profiles of people who want to be something breaking the barriers of caste, religion and patriarchy.

An alumna of Srinagar-based Missionary School, Mallinson — Ashwaq said she wants to write the stories of ordinary people. “And I try to tell these stories with a sensitivity that accords my characters respect and dignity that they deserve,” she said.

But the self-confessed poetry aficionado wanted to be a commercial pilot before she found her interest in writing during her school days. “As I completed my 12th, I attended a writing workshop organized by my mentor and senior journalist Muzamil Jaleel,” she said. “This was when I started looking at writing very differently, as something that could probably, become my career one day.”

She went on to complete her bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Multimedia Production from Degree College Baramulla and later joined Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.

“I worked with Press Trust of India as a desk person-cum-reporter for 2.5 years, followed by five months as a legal correspondent with The Asian Age,” she said. “The time I was in PTI honed my editing skills but I wanted to write beyond the normal everyday news reporting.  There was a sense of directionless for a while till I knew I could realize my dream of becoming a writer through long-form journalism.”

In 2012, she went to the Columbia Journalism School on a Fulbright Masters Nehru fellowship, for a degree in magazine writing. During that one year in the US, she wrote for The Atlantic, literary magazine Guernica, and the New York Timesblog.

Mint hired her from Columbia. She writes ‘long-form’ stories for the publication – mostly on gender and marginalized communities.

Last year, Ashwaq received The Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for excellence in reporting on women’s issues.

“The award was for my series on human trafficking, looking at the social, economic, legal, and human aspects of the problem,” she said. (KL)

When the operation was on in January this year, the channel allegedly revealed information which was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm, the sources said.

New Delhi: An Inter-ministerial committee of the I and B ministry has recommended that a leading Hindi news channel be taken off air for a day after it concluded that the broadcaster had revealed “strategically-sensitive” details while covering the Pathankot terrorist attack. The ministry may now ask the channel NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on November 9, according to sources, in what would be the first order against a broadcaster over its coverage of terrorist attacks. Efforts to reach the channel for its comments could not fructify.

The matter pertains to the coverage of the Pathankot terror attack by the channel where the committee felt that “such crucial information” could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to “cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel.”

When the operation was on in January this year, it allegedly revealed information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter-planes, rocket-launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel-tanks etc. “which was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm, the sources said.

Official sources said that as the content appeared to be violative of the programming norms, a show cause notice was issued to the channel.

In its reply, the channel replied that it was a case of “subjective interpretation” and the most of the information they had put out was already in public domain in print, electronic and social media.

The committee, in its order, however observed that the channel “appeared to give out the exact location of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity” when they telecast in real time.

The panel expressed “grave concern” that this was a matter of national security and that the channel had revealed sensitive details like location of ammunition depot viz-a-viz the space where the terrorists were holed up, location of school and residential areas.

“Such crucial information could have been readily picked by their handlers, which had the potential to cause massive
harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel,” the committee said disagreeing with the channel’s contention that similar content was carried by newspapers. PTI

Srinagar: Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi today termed the burning of schools in Kashmir as unacceptable and claimed that extremists are doing it as they are scared that education will open up the minds of children and they would’t be able to use them for their vested interests.

“Education is attacked, schools are burnt, teachers are kidnapped and children are killed, this is a widespread global phenomenon. The extremists are scared that education will open up the minds of children.

“They want to create a situation where children cannot get education. For if they go to schools, they will learn about technology, citizenship, peer to peer relationship, mutual respect, history, culture and values, and then they won’t be able to brainwash and use them for their own vested interests,” he said.

He was speaking during the launch of a global initiative ‘Nobel Laureates and Leaders for the Children’. The platform aims to bring together Nobel laureates and world leaders who would commit to accelerating progress and achieving breakthroughs to benefit children, by signing a declaration.

Srinagar: A Mumbai-based director has completed the month-long shooting of his debut film in Kashmir despite the ongoing unrest, which has adversely affected life including the tourism sector.

Director G Ravi Kumar is now hoping to release the film, titled “Rose Garden”, simultaneously in Telegu, Tamil and Hindi in January next year.

The movie stars newcomers Nitin Nash and Farnaz Shetty in lead roles. Kumar said it is a love story between a Kashmiri Muslim girl and a Hindu boy who is a journalist by profession and has come to the Valley to cover the prevailing law and order situation.

“It is a love story which flourishes between two young people amidst the violence, a patriotic movie and I am glad that 80 per cent of the film is complete despite the prevailing situation,” Kumar said.

“The film is in Telugu but we are planning to release it simultaneously in two other languages – Tamil and Hindi – in January next year as a new year gift to the film buffs.”

Kashmir is on the boil since July 9, a day after the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani in an encounter with security forces.

The unrest has claimed 85 lives and left thousands injured.

Kumar said he faced no issues during the shooting which lasted for a month.

“We shot the movie at so many locations like Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Tangmarg, Dal Lake, Botanical garden and Mughal gardens. We faced no problem.

“There is a saying that ‘fortune favours the brave’. We took a decision and moved to Kashmir despite the prevailing law and order situation and completed our project,” Kumar, who is also the music director of the picture, said.

Praising the local people, government and the security establishment for their support, he said the people are “very cooperative and their hospitality has no match. The government also ensured proper security for our team.”

Shetty, who is playing Sana, said it was a dream come true for her to visit Kashmir.

“I have always wanted to visit the place and the film provided me with an opportunity to realise my dream. Kashmir is rightly called the paradise on earth. People here are very helpful and cooperative,” she said.

Echoing similar views, Nash, who plays ‘Sereno’ – a journalist who falls in love with Sana, said the beauty of this place was even beyond what he had imagined in his dreams.

“The place and its people are really great. They treated us like their own,” he said.

Kumar said he was initially afraid of coming to the Valley given the situation.

“We discussed the situation and since our project was linked to the situation, we decided to come here and try,” Kumar said, hoping the situation improves soon.

Srinagar: Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar and Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh on Wednesday arrived in Kashmir to review the overall security situation.

The duo first visited the Northern town of Uri where they were briefed by the local Commanders in the presence of Northern Army and Chinar Corps Commanders Lt Gen DS Hooda and Lt Gen JS Sandhu, respectively.

The minister also interacted with the troops deployed in the forward areas over tea.

It was on September 18, 2016 that suspected militant stormed a military base in Uri, which falls near Line of Control (LoC) killing 19 Indian army soldiers and injuring as many others.

The minister impressed upon the soldiers to remain in a very high state of alert to “give a befitting response to any misadventure from across”.

New Delhi: If Pakistan inflicts injuries on India, the costs are going to be far heavier for them, Union Minister Arun Jaitley has said, asserting that there is a shift in India’s approach towards dealing with cross-border tensions as it has “suffered enough in silence” for Pakistan’s terror export.

He also lashed out at Pakistan for “consistently violating” the 2003 ceasefires saying the “de facto violation has become de jure violation”.

Eight civilians were killed yesterday in shelling in an escalation of cross border military tensions.

“The new normal is that India doesn’t accept that Pakistan can keep sending terrorists and keep inflicting injury on India. If they do that then costs are going to be much heavier,” Jaitley said.

However, our sources in the Times Now said that Goswami is on one-week leave for Diwali

New Delhi: Senior journalist Arnab Goswami has reportedly resigned as the Editor-in Chief of Times Now. Arnab was not seen on his prime time show The Newshour in couple of days.

According to The News Minute, he announced his resignation at an editorial meeting. He told his team that he will start something on his own.

However, our sources in the Times Now said that Goswami is on one-week leave for Diwali Reported Indian Express