Category: Union Territory

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar on Wednesday expressed dismay over the administrative inertia that has beset Srinagar and other areas following snowfall, asking the administration to expedite the process of restoration of basic civic amenities to people.

Expressing dismay over the failure of the administration to preempt the situation on account of the advisories of the weatherman, Sagar said the administration was again caught napping. He made an extensive tour around the city areas and interacted with people who expressed helplessness in view of the administration’s ineptness in dealing with the exigencies on ground.

Later while interacting with the media at Nawa e Subah he said the continuous inundation of low-lying areas and the sight of snowed arterials and alleys reveal the failure of the administration. He said the summer capital is reeling under darkness, and the situation of water supply wasn’t any satisfactory with many areas in the old city going without water for 12 hours a day.

“The claims of the agencies concerned fall flat in view of the prolonged outages, shortage of water and non clearance of roads leading to hospitals and other public places. While the normal life of Srinagar remains out of spin, the administration is busy clicking snaps and running virtual rescue and relief operations on social media escaping from its responsibilities on ground. The reality on the ground is starkly different and appalling. So far the government hasn’t put into action its mechanical division to clear the roads, moreover the interior alleys have also been left unattended,” he said.

He said the season’s major snowfall has debunked the claims of administration on its claims of dealing with weather vagaries in the ongoing winter season. “It was only after the snowfall that control rooms were set up to deal with the exigencies and meet eventualities.

The suffering of the people has mounted on account of unaccountability in hospitals and unruly price rise of essential commodities by black marketers. Fighting weather vagaries have changed across the world, but the local administration has miserably failed to update its response on those lines. In this part of the world the administration is busy in PR exercises only. Compounding the unforeseen problems is the closure of main roads, and inner alleys, even 48 hours after it started snowing,” he said.

Impressing the administration to expedite its response to the snowfall, he said the restoration of road connectivity, power and water should top the agenda of the government. He also urged the government to start immediate dewatering of roads and other low-lying areas on priority basis. (GNS)

‘High tempo of kinetic operations in the hinterland ensured denial of operational space to militant organisations’

Jammu: The Union Ministry of Defence Wednesday revealed that the number of active militants in J&K have come down to less than 200 while as local militant recruitment and streets protests have shown a significant dip in the past two years.

In its Year End Report-2020, the Ministry of Defence, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that with the ‘Whole of Government’ approach adopted against the militant ecosystem and the consistent efforts of the security forces, the security situation in Jammu & Kashmir has seen progressive improvement.

The report said that on one hand, high level of alertness by troops along the Line of Control (LC) blunted Pakistan’s endeavours to infiltrate militants into the Valley, at the same time, high tempo of kinetic operations in the hinterland ensured denial of operational space to militant organisations.

“Ceasefire Violations committed by Pakistan Army were given a befitting reply by own troops causing significant casualties to Pakistan Army,” the report said. “Counter infiltration grid was strengthened resulting in neutralisation of a number of militants along the LC.”

The report said that the number of attempts to smuggle arms, ammunition and contraband were also foiled along the LoC.

The Defence Ministry year-ender said that well synergised, intelligence-based operations have resulted in significant successes and have considerably degraded militant leadership and their capabilities in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Residual terrorist strength in the Valley now is below 200 and local recruitment is decreasing giving a serious blow to the nefarious designs of Pakistan to indigenize the movement and fuel unrest in the Valley”, the report said.

It said that the attempts to spread violence South of Pir Panjal Range have been comprehensively defeated by proactive operations.

“All possible steps are being taken to provide a secure environment to the Awaam of Jammu and Kashmir”, it said. “Significant reduction has been observed in protests over past two years providing an opportunity to the Awaam to lead a peaceful life.”

The report said that attempts of inimical elements to mislead people by running disinformation campaigns were defeated by proactively monitoring the situation and engaging with the local population.

The annual report said that In the challenging times of global pandemic of COVID-19, the Indian Army rendered assistance not only to civil administration but directly to civil populace as well, by carrying out medical evacuations, provision of necessary supplies to needy and educating common people about nitty-gritties of COVID-19.

The humane approach of the Army has been appreciated by one and all, it said

Besides this, the annual report furthermore said that the Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh inaugurated 18 Bridges in J&K and Ladakh of which 10 in Jammu and Kashmir and 8 in Ladakh through video conferencing in October last year—(KNO)

Bird flu: J&K put on alert

To meet challenges, district monitoring committees constituted: Officials

Safe to eat properly cooked meat, people associated with poultry need to take precautions: Experts

Srinagar: As Himachal Pradesh reports cases of bird flu, Jammu and Kashmir has sounded an alert and started collecting samples to check the health of the birds flocking in the Union territory during winters, officials said.

An official said that the J&K government has sounded an alert following reports of bird flu cases in Himachal Pradesh and monitoring committees have been constituted to keep a vigil.

Official said that the animal husbandry and wildlife department have taken samples of birds to check whether any bird is infected with the dreaded avian influenza.

Dr Nisar Ul Hassan, flu expert while talking with news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that there are two strains of bird flu namely H5N1 and H5N8 and both are confined to birds.

“However, with H5N1 there have been human cases also reported but human to human transmission hasn’t been seen as of now and this virus doesn’t get transmitted through cooked meat,” he said.

Hassan said that it is safe to eat properly cooked poultry meat, adding that there is no risk to catch the disease from eating chicken or other poultry products.

“There is no threat of bird flu transmission to humans by way of eating poultry. There is no evidence that people have become infected after eating contaminated poultry meat that has been properly cooked,” he said.

However, Hassan said that one needs to make sure that the meat is not raw, uncooked or partially cooked as the cooking of poultry at or above 70-degree centigrade kills the virus.

“But slaughtering, de-feathering and eviscerating of diseased birds pose a risk to humans,” he said, adding that people dealing with such things must take precautions so as to avoid any contraction of the virus.

It is suspected that migratory birds that are natural reservoirs of the virus might have brought the virus.

“Kashmir being the favourite destination of migratory birds during winter, the virus can be introduced in the valley through them,” Hassan said. “Poultry farmers need to be made aware of the sickness to ensure that no diseased bird enters the food chain.”

Meanwhile, Suhail Naik, President of other Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK) said that people must avoid using poultry products for some time.

“Cooking can kill virus but the product– doesn’t come directly to our kitchen, first we slaughter, defeather chicken and at that time people can contract this virus,” Naik said.

However, he also said that this flu can transmit from one person to other and it will be very difficult to break the chain once this flu breaks out.

Naik further added that bird flu or avian flu viruses can infect domestic poultry and other birds and can jump to animal species.

The disease is “zoonotic” and transmission of the virus to humans can prove disastrous.

“The bird flu may come as a double whammy for us as we are already fighting a long drawn battle against Covid 19 pandemic,” he said.

“People are advised not to eat raw poultry parts and or raw eggs. Though cooking poultry meat thoroughly at temperatures more than 70 degree centigrade will inactivate the virus, it is better to avoid poultry and its products till flu is eliminated in birds,” he said.

Meanwhile officials said that there are no reports of an outbreak of Avian Influenza (Bird flu) in the valley till now.

“To monitor the situation and to effectively meet any arising challenges district monitoring committees under supervision of chief animal husbandry officers of all districts with poultry development officers have been constituted,” they said.

“Rapid Response Teams as per GoI guidelines are also being established besides issuing advisory to common public and farmers,” they added—(KNO)

Jammu: The Defence Ministry in its annual year-ender report has accused China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of using unorthodox weapons to escalate the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh while maintaining that the Chinese Army suffered significant casualties on June 15 clash in Galwan Valley.

While referring to the situation in eastern Ladakh, as per news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), the report said that “unilateral and provocative actions by the Chinese to change the status quo by force, in more than one area on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), were responded to in a firm and non-escalatory way, ensuring the sanctity of our claims in Eastern Ladakh.”

The report said that the Indian Army has maintained all protocols and agreements between the two countries while the PLA escalated the situation by utilisation of unorthodox weapons and amassing a large number of troops.

“Indian Army with assistance from IAF, mobilised troops including accretionary forces in a very short duration including heavy equipment like guns, tanks as also ammunition, rations and clothing,” it said. “Own Engineers constructed roads, accommodation shelters and bridges to assist troop deployment.”

“In a major skirmish in Galwan, 20 brave Indian soldiers lost their lives while preventing PLA troops from ingressing into our territory”, the defence ministry report said.

The report said that the Chinese also suffered significant casualties. Later on 28-29 August 2020, own troops in a precautionary deployment, pre-empted Chinese expansionist designs and occupied heights along the southern bank of Pangong Tso.

The report said that “braving inclement weather, own troops continue to be deployed on these heights. Advance Winter Stocking (AWS) and winter preparations for the enhanced strength has been completed and troops are well entrenched to counter any misadventure by Chinese forces.”

It also said that while the Indian Army is prepared for any eventuality, talks are also progressing to resolve the issue in an amicable manner.

The report further said that the Indian Army has resolutely countered adversaries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), and maintained high training standards while being at the forefront combating the COVID-19 pandemic during the year.

“There has been no let-up in operational readiness along the LC, LAC, hinterland and the security of military establishments,” it said.

“Indian Army has not just ensured force preservation but has also ensured that operational readiness remains unaffected in order to safeguard the borders of the nation,” the report reads—(KNO)

Srinagar: Saffron growers in Kashmir have a reason to rejoice as rates of the world’s costliest crop have gone up after it was given a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

In May this year, Kashmiri saffron was given a Geographical Indication (GI) tag with the aim to make it illegal for someone outside the valley to make and sell a similar product under the ‘Kashmiri saffron’ name.

GI tags are indications which identify a product as originating in that territory, where a given quality, reputation or characteristic of the product is essentially attributable to its geographic origin.

While Kashmiri farmers say that GI tag has immensely benefitted them in this season.
Recently, authentic GI tagged Kashmiri saffron was made available in the United Arab Emirates.

Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi also Sunday appealed to people to buy “unique” Kashmiri saffron.

Addressing the nation through 72nd edition of his monthly radio programme and the last ‘Mann Ki Baat’ of the year 2020 on Sunday, he said, “In May this year, the Kashmiri Saffron was given the GO tag through this, we want to make Kashmir saffron a globally popular brand.”
Bashir Ahmad, a saffron grower from Pampore in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district said last year he sold each kilogram of saffron Rs 1.40 lakh.

He cultivated three kilogram saffron on four kanals of land.

“But this year, we sold each kilogram for Rs 1.80 lakh and earned around Rs 5.5 lakh through saffron. This all is because of GI tagging as it has increased the value of Kashmiri saffron in world markets,” Ahmad told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).

The Kashmiri saffron is considered the best in the world due to its flavor, colour and aroma.
But the high grade Kashmiri saffron has been hit by adulteration, mixed with the cheaper Iranian variety and being sold across the world. For an ordinary person, it becomes difficult to recognise Kashmiri saffron resulting, its value has degraded.

In Kashmir, three districts – Pulwama, Budgam, Srinagar grow saffron. Among them, Pulwama district’s Pampore has earned the title of Kashmir’s ‘saffron town’ for growing the highest and best quality saffron.

“The GI tagging has really helped us this year. A laboratory has also been set up in Pampore where a proper check is being made only then Kashmiri saffron is being exported with GI tag. The rates of each kilogram have gone up this season from Rs 1.30 lakh in previous years to over Rs 1.80 lakh this year due to GI tagging,” President Saffron Growers Association, Abdul Majeed Wani, who is also native of Pampore, said.

He however said that production remained low this year like previous years.

Wani attributed decline in saffron production to dry weather in September and October.

Saffron flowers are sensitive to vagaries of the weather. Its production depends on the weather conditions and the irrigation facilities.
The harvest season of saffron begins from ending October.

More than 16,000 families are associated with saffron production in Pampore.

A senior official of Agriculture Department said that GI tagging would help farmers to get better returns.

“Everything is being regulated now to stop low quality Iranian saffron which was being sold under the name of Kashmiri saffron,” he said. (KINS)

Gold in desi cow milk, earthquakes due to slaughter in syllabus for national cow exam

By HT Correspondent

Examinees will be asked to answer objective multiple-choice questions for the Kamdhenu Gau-Vigyan Prachar-Prasar Examination, the country’s first online exam on cows, on February 25

Desi cow milk has traces of gold and earthquakes occur due to cow slaughter, according to the syllabus devised by the national body for cow welfare for the country’s first online exam on cows on February 25.

“Acoustic anisotropy leads to a very strong anisotropic stress on a rock. The daily butchering of thousands of animals continually for several years generates acoustic anisotropy due to Einsteinian Pain Waves (EPW) emitted by dying animals. And the accumulated acoustic anisotropy is found to be related with the stress history of rocks,” says the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog’s syllabus.

“In 1984, more than 20,000 people died due to gas leaks in Bhopal. People living in houses with cow dung coated walls were not affected.”

According to the syllabus, the native cows are “hardy and clever enough not to sit at dirty places”, while the Jersey cow is “lazy” and “prone to diseases”. “It has also been seen that they [Jersey cows] attract infection by not being hygienic enough.” The syllabus says whenever any unknown person comes near a desi cow, “she will immediately stand. The irreverent exotic cow displays no emotions.”

The examinees will be asked to answer objective multiple-choice questions for the Kamdhenu Gau-Vigyan Prachar-Prasar Examination as per the syllabus. There will be separate categories of examinees involving primary and middle school; secondary; and college students. Students who clear the exam will get cow expert certificates, officials said.

A Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog statement about the exam said: “Union education ministers, chief ministers, state education ministers, chairmen of Gau Seva Aayogs of all states, district education officers of all states, principals of all schools, print and electronic media, NGOs and cow donors will be involved in this mammoth exercise [examination].”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Week

In a new book that looks at warding off future pandemics post-COVID-19, Dr Michael Greger highlights the dangers of the poultry and meat industry, warning that a poultry-transmitted virus like H5N1 could be far deadlier than COVID-19 if it mutates to spread rapidly among human beings.

Greger, a nutritionist and author of How Not to Die, recently released How to Survive a Pandemic: Overcoming COVID-19 and Preventing the Next Deadly Outbreak. In it, he examines the scope of “treating the cause” of modern infectious viruses, many of which stem from animals.

Highlighting the unhygienic conditions in poultry farms, Greger warns that diseases like H5N1—which had a 50 per cent mortality rate—could prove far deadlier than COVID-19 if such viruses mutate to affect more people and grow more contagious.

While H5N1 was not as contagious between humans as COVID-19, strains of avian flu have been observed as mutating.

He highlights the immense infection potential of pig coronaviruses like Porcine deltacoronavirus and porcine epidemic diarrhoea virus, noting the growing emergence of new coronaviruses due in part to intensive farm management practices that place thousands of animals together in closed environments.

“With so many different coronaviruses circulating among so many different species, it is considered likely a matter of when, not if, the next recombinant coronavirus will emerge and burst into the human population,” Greggs writes.

“While global pangolin populations are in drastic decline, we produce and slaughter more than a billion pigs each year, nearly half in China along, raising the spectre that the next pandemic may arise from domestic rather than wild animals, an event that may actually have already happened.”

From the infectious potential of broiler chicken to the threats posed by wet markets, Gregg goes into the many ways animal-borne diseases can spread to humans due to current lifestyle practices.

Greger calls for reforming the way domestic animals are raised in a bid to stop the next killer flu.

Greger has long been critical of the health risks posed by meat-based diets and has prominently advocated for plant-based plants.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Srinagar: People’s Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti today said the purchases of Rs 82 lakh as revealed in an RTI has not been done for her personnel home but is a property of Hospitality and Protocol Department.

Talking to KNS, Mehbooba Mufti said that “All these purchases is for the Hospitality and Protocol department store not for my home . Secondly this department also caters to Deputy CM, Governor and other dignitaries.”

The RTI was filed by Jammu and Kashmir-based activist Inam-un-Nabi Soudagar(KNS).

Srinagar: The authorities on Tuesday said that the Jammu-Srinagar highway, the only road link connecting Kashmir Valley with the outside world, shall remain closed for traffic tomorrow as well due to the accumulation of snow around Jawahar Tunnel and landslides at several places en route the thoroughfare.

“On January 7, no vehicular movement shall be allowed on Jammu-Srinagar highway from Jammu towards Srinagar and vice-versa in view of snow accumulation around the Jawahar Tunnel, landslides/shooting stones/mudslides at Samroli, Dalwas, Cafeteria Morh, Sitaram Passi, Bai Nallah, Digdol Army Camp, Magerkot, Gangroo, Salad,” a traffic department official told GNS. Over 4000 vehicles are still stranded at several places along the highway, reports said.

Mughal road, connecting Shopian and Poonch districts, also remained closed. Srinagar-Leh highway has been officially closed on the orders by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir on December 30. (GNS)

Srinagar: With several Indian states reporting outbreak of bird flu, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Wednesday said it is safe to eat properly cooked poultry meat.

“There is no risk to catch the disease from eating poultry or poultry products,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

“Bird flu is not transmitted through cooked food,” he said.

“To date, there is no evidence that people have become infected after eating contaminated poultry meat that has been properly cooked.”

DAK President said in areas free from the disease, poultry can be prepared and consumed as usual.

“In areas experiencing outbreaks, poultry and poultry products can also be safely consumed provided these items are properly cooked and properly handled,” he added.

“Consumers need to be sure that all parts of the poultry are fully cooked (no “pink” parts) and that eggs, too are properly cooked (no “runny” yolks),” Dr Nisar said adding that “normal temperature used for cooking (70 degree Celsius in all parts of the food) kills the virus.”

“However, slaughtering, defeathering and eviscerating of diseased birds pose a risk to humans,” he said.

“Recently, the samples of dead migratory birds in Himachal Pradesh were tested positive for H5N1and another strain of bird flu H5N8 has been reported in Ducks in two districts of Kerala.”

Dr Nisar said the viruses usually do not infect humans, but there are chances.

“The migratory birds are natural reservoirs of the virus and Kashmir being the favorite destination of migratory birds during winter, the virus can be introduced in the valley through them,” he said

“Domesticated birds can become infected through migratory birds.”

“Poultry farmers need to be made aware about the sickness to ensure that no diseased bird enters the food chain.

The veterinarians must get activated for active surveillance, stockpile logistics like PPE and Tamiflu and prepare for worst, just in case,” said Dr Nisar.

Sd/

Dr Riyaz Ahmad Dagga

Spokesperson DAK