Srinagar, Apr 01: The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory has replaced Chief Minister as chancellor of the Islamic University of Science & Technology, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University and Cluster Universities of Jammu and Srinagar.
According to Jammu & Kashmir Re-organisation (adaptation of state laws) order, 2020, the LG will be vice-chancellor of IUST, BGSBU and Cluster Universities of Jammu & Srinagar.
According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), IUST and BGSBU were also funded respectively by the Wakf Board and Wakf Council.
After PDP-BJP Government collapsed in June 2018, amendments were made in the laws of IUST and BGSU to empower Governor to function as Chancellor of these varsities only during Governor’s rule and President’s rule.
The government has amended the law governing creation of yet-to-be established National Law University to appoint Chief Justice of J&K High Court as its chancellor.
Under the law enacted during previous PDP-BJP government, Chief Minister was chancellor of the Law University—(KNO)
Amid Covid Fervour, IndianArmy distributed essential commodities among needy people in declared Red zones of Shopian District.
While the World is Fighting with Coronavirus, every man and machine is doing their best to make living easy for the population.Shopian based Army’s 62 Rastriya Rifles Sedow Company has taken up an initiative to make living of local population of Sedow village, which has been declared as Red Zone easier. The loclas in the village have been appealed to Remain shutdown stay indoors as Precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Covid -19 Virus.
62 Rastriya Rifles distributed essential Commodities among the needy people of different area’s of the Sedow village where one of their Company is Operating and Medical Teams of Army made people Aware about Covid-19 and what major precautions has to be taken to prevent getting infected.
Jawans and Officers paste Awareness Posters in area about Corono Virus at different locations and ask the locals to follow Precautions which has to be taken to be safe from the deadly Virus. They are also operating a 24×7 helpline for the Quarantined village and assisting in evacuation of the sick as it Is a remote village.
Locals of Sedow Village Lauds the efforts of sedow army camp in this Situation.
Srinagar, Apr 01: The 10-year-old boy who was tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday, is reportedly “doing well”, while as his family members have been tested negative at SKIMS, family informed to KINS.
However the report of the father was yet to come when this report was filed.
The family members of 10 year Covid- victim of Srinagar were quarantined yesterday and they have been tested negative.
Authorities had quarantined the father, mother, sister of the Covid-19 patient shortly after he was tested positive.
His father told KINS over phone “My son is doing well. We are hopeful that he will get well soon. Today everyone was relieved when my other family members’ test reports came back and they have all tested negative.” he said but added that his reports was yet to come.
Medical Superintendent SKIMS Soura Dr Farooq Ahmad Jan also confirmed to Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS) that the reports of the family members were tested negative.
However sources in the SKIMS said that all the family members were taken for mandatory quarantine.
According to the father of the boy, his son had hugged a Tableegi Jamaat member in Srinagar on March 21 and for at least a week he showed no symptoms. Suddenly, the boy complained of high fever on March 28. On the same day the doctors had advised him for 2 week home quarantine.
However after KINS exclusively reported the ordeal of father and his son on March 29, a medical team reached his residence with an ambulance on March 30 and admitted him in SKIMS, Soura where his tests were done which came positive on March 31. (KINS)
Srinagar, April 1: A gunfight broke out between militants and army in woods along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday.
Reports reaching GNS said that the soldiers manning the fence near “Teen Behak” in the Jumgund area of the LoC at around 1:00 p.m. intercepted the movement of a group of militants believed to be 5 to 6 in number.
The militants while trying to infiltrate in this side were challenged by the army, triggering off a brief exchange of gunfire, they said.
Meanwhile, additional reinforcement of the forces was rushed to the spot. They said due to inclement weather the operation may get prolonged even as all the exit points have been sealed. Army sources also confirmed the operation in the area. “When reports last came in, the operation was going on,” they said. (GNS)
“The presidential order defining the domicile law issued at the depth of night while the world is under the grip of a deadly pandemic falls way short of expectations even for those who expected some relief some reconciliation process. The new definition of ‘domicile’ is humiliating and insulting. Adds insult to injury. Doing away with district and divisional recruitment is an affront to the concept of affirmative action. We had no expectations but this particular order has made the disappointment even more intense. The government of the day has embarked on an erroneous path and seems to be in no mood to rectify wrongs and instead is content to be deluded in the world of “we know the best” for J&K and its people.
The lowest rung in jobs has been reserved for locals – not even non-gazetted but Class IV jobs. There seems to be a clear intent of conveying yet another serving of humiliation and insult to the people of J&K after what transpired in August 5th. What is ironically historical though is that in the middle of one of the worst medical disasters facing the world, the Govt of the day has the time and patience to script a disaster of its own. During the #COVID19 battle, the people of J&K didn’t deserve more humiliation.”
Baramulla: The Jammu and Kashmir police in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district arrested a Wholesaler and a shopkeeper for overpricing and registered cases under relevant provisions against them.
Reports said that two shopkeepers working within the main town of Baramulla were arrested on Tuesday for overcharging the masses availing the stock from them.
Concerned Station House Officer (SHO) Baramulla, Syed Gazanfur, on being contacted said, ” Two have been arrested for resorting to price hike despite clear directions and rate list from concerned department”.
He said some complaints were received about the extra changing by two shopkeepers including a wholesaler and the other a retailer within town.
On reaching the scene and gathering the spot details both the persons were arrested for overcharging amid the COVID-19 outbreak when people hardly manage their expenses, he said.
He said both the accused were were arrested an lodged in police station Baramulla under FIR Number 31/2020 under section 3/8 EC.
He identified both of them as Nisar Dhobi a resident of Suhai Colony (Wholesale) and the other as Mehraj Ud Din a resident of Kanispora.
President Donald Trump finally leveled with America about the desperate reality of the coronavirus pandemic, warning of cruel weeks to come in one of the most chilling White House moments in modern history.
Even with blanket nationwide adoption of stringent mitigation efforts, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans could face death in the coming weeks in a cascading nationwide ordeal, according to modeling explained by senior members of the President’s emergency task force Tuesday.
It is in the nature of the presidency, that the commander-in-chief sometimes has to deliver grave news to the nation.
George W. Bush had to narrate the horror of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Ronald Reagan movingly eulogized shuttle astronauts after a 1986 disaster. And John Kennedy kept his nerve to address the nation during a showdown with the Soviet Union over Cuba that threatened to erupt in nuclear war.
But no president for many decades has had to level with his country over such a sudden impending loss of American life in a medical emergency as Trump is now being forced to do — after apparently coming to terms about the extent of the crisis himself.
It was not the first time that administration experts modeled the staggering possible death toll. But the combination of the President’s unusually serious demeanor and the ominous curve charts of his top public health officials struck a note of alarm missing from Trump’s previous knockabout briefings.
The stark spectacle of a president, especially one who spent weeks dismissing the virus, warning of the imminent demise of so many Americans encapsulated the scale of the crisis.
“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We’re going to go through a very tough two weeks,” the President said in the White House briefing room.
Trump’s briefing mostly lacked the elements of self-congratulation and false hope that have characterized his heavily criticized leadership in the crisis.
To begin with, during his marathon two-hour briefing, he mostly ceded the stage to his credible lieutenants Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, who convinced him of the seriousness of the situation over the weekend.
There have been many false dawns when Trump has failed to match the gravity of a moment during his tenure. Past behavior suggests he may struggle to maintain his unifying tone at a moment of unique national peril.
And the harrowing potential scale of the looming tragedy already have some, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying lives might have been saved had Trump not spent weeks denying the severity of the approaching pandemic and adopted more aggressive actions to prepare.
A multi-front battle intensifies
Trump’s appearance came on a day of grave developments that underscored the multi-front nature of the fight against Covid-19. Field hospitals sprang up in New York’s Central Park to alleviate overcrowding in the city’s hospitals. State governors pleaded with the federal government for more ventilators, and doctors prepared to make grim decisions about who will live and die amid a shortage of the machines.
Fauci and Birx arrived armed with slides showing the rocketing rise of Covid-19 cases in New York and New Jersey in recent weeks, and more shallow curves for other states.
Their most hopeful moments involved referring to Italy’s belated turn to a downward curve in infections after weeks of agony, reflecting the wrenching substance of their message.
But in order to keep deaths to the lower end of their estimates, they warned that maximum mitigation efforts — including physical distancing and staying at home — were imperative.
Even with such a regime in place across the country — and some states and cities are not yet taking the advice seriously — there are likely to be between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths.
Fauci vowed, however, not to accept those figures and to strive to keep the mortality curve below expectations.
He said there were some early signs that mitigation efforts taken by states and the White House’s distancing guidelines, which have been extended until April 30, are working.
“Whenever you’re having an effect, it’s not time to take your foot off the accelerator,” Fauci said.
“And that’s what I hope. And I know that we can that do over the next 30 days.”
Birx called on the entire nation to unite, and, in a comment that appeared to jar with Trump’s earlier rhetoric on the crisis, added: “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors.”
“Each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days,” Birx said.
A grave moment in history
As Tuesday’s briefing wore on, the President indulged in his familiar misinformation and political shape-shifting that underscored his own erratic leadership and dishonesty.
Empathizing with the pain in New York and New Jersey, the President who a month ago predicted a “miracle” that would make the virus go away bemoaned that “they got off to a very late start.”
New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly criticized Trump for not invoking the full power of the Defense Production Act to supercharge the production of ventilators and other vital gear.
Less than a month ago, the President, resisting calls to shut down the economy and take the pandemic sufficiently seriously, equated coronavirus to the common flu.
“So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!” Trump wrote in a tweet.
But now, with the number of cases of the virus in the United States racing towards 200,000 on Tuesday and 4,000 deaths, Trump admitted the two are not the same.
The President invoked an unnamed friend who he said was in a coma because of the disease.
“It’s not the flu. It’s vicious,” Trump said.
Later in the marathon briefing — which became more an attempt to flood the zone for political gain the longer it went on — Trump claimed of the virus, “It just reared up and came from nowhere.” The White House in fact had weeks of notice once the disease emerged in China.
As is often the case, the President’s off-the-cuff style raised questions about his tone when he ditched his prepared remarks.
And Trump also portrayed himself as a lone force resisting calls to “ride it out,” warning such an approach could cost more than 2 million American lives.
The President appeared to be setting up a political construct to use in his reelection campaign under which he can claim to have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
CNN reported Tuesday that not all of the President’s advisers backed extending the distancing guidelines.
The decision to shut down the previously purring US economy has thrown millions of Americans out of work and choked off growth. The full scale of the devastation is expected to be revealed in jobs numbers later this week.
Trump faces an agonizing dilemma, balancing a desire to slow the spread of the virus and the need to return people to work to alleviate the possibility of an economic depression.
Health advisers argued a month’s extension of the distancing guidelines was necessary.
But given that many hotspots may not reach the peak of their pandemics for weeks, it seems unlikely the situation will have improved sufficiently to relax the guidelines in a month.
NEW DELHI: Scientists at India’s top health research bodies and health experts have said holding newspapers in your hands is safe, and there is no evidence of them or other types of paper being carriers of Covid-19 infection.
Over the past week, there have been WhatsApp messages and forwards — stating that newspapers can be avenues of infection. But this has been roundly refuted by health experts and doctors.
Nivedita Gupta, chief epidemiologist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), told ET that Covid-19 is a “respiratory infection” and there is “no risk” of catching it through newspapers and packages.
Sujeet Singh, director of National Centre for Disease Control, said NCDC’s helpline number has been working round the clock to refute such rumours. “Investigating virologists have not found any evidence that suggests that it can survive on paper. We are getting these queries on everyday basis and clarifying them,” he said.
Renowned heart surgeon Devi Shetty ruled out the likelihood of the virus lingering in the air for hours — the characteristic that makes measles infectious.
“The virus cannot sustain for longer periods. Right now there is no evidence that the virus can survive on surfaces, for that mutation should happen. It will take a long time and will require infection getting spread to huge number of people,” he said, rubbishing rumours that the virus can be spread through newspapers.
Experts said Covid-19 spreads from person to person among close contacts and, as of now, there is no evidence that suggests the virus is airborne and hence may be infecting surfaces. Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia said, “Airborne spread has not been reported for Covid-19. Based on the information received so far and on our experience with other coronaviruses, Covid-19 appears to spread mostly through respiratory droplets (for instance produced when a sick person coughs) and close contact. This is why WHO recommends maintaining hand and respiratory hygiene”.
Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said the possibility of an infected person contaminating commercial goods and infection risk from a package that has travelled from one place to another, is low. “Survivabiity of the virus on cardboard surfaces is quite low as compared to metal or steel; hence there is no chance of virus being spread through newspapers,” he said.
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention also claims that it is highly unlikely that Coronavirus could spread through newspaper delivery. “These are rumours, that’s all I can say,” cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan said.
Anyone who has resided for a period of 15 years in the UT of J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th /12th examination will be deemed to be domicile
After revoking the special Status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, the Centre has issued an order that government jobs will be reserved only for domiciles of J&K.
The order says anyone “who has resided for a period of 15 years in the UT of J&K or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th /12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT of J&K or who is registered as a migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants) shall be deemed to be domicile.”
On August 6, the Centre revoked the special status of J&K under Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution and downgraded and bifurcated it into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
The two revoked provisions of the Constitution let the J&K Legislature decide the “permanent residents”, prohibiting a non-J&K resident from buying property there and ensuring job reservation for its residents.
The provisions shall apply to reservation for domiciles in “all the Gazetted and non-Gazetted posts, Class IV posts” of the Government.
“Children of Central Govt. officials, All India Services, PSUs, autonomous body of Centre, Public Sector Banks, officials of statutory bodies, Central Universities, recognised research institutes of Centre who have served in J&K for a total period of 10 years” will be domiciles.
The domicile status also applies to “children of such residents of J&K who reside outside J&K in connection with their employment or business or other professional or vocational reasons but their parents should fulfil any of the conditions provided”.
The Jammu and Kashmir government is searching for the people who visited the Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi in mid March and returned to the union territory.
With most corona cases in Kashmir having history of direct or indirect contact with members from religious gathering, nothing is left to chances.
The district Commissioners in Kashmir have appealed to the members who were a part of the gathering to identify themselves for putting them under surveillance isolation and quarantine.
“We are taking the matter very seriously and have appealed to all those who attended the Nizamuddin congregation to come up for screening,” Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, P.K Pole told IANS.
He said initially there was some reluctance shown by the people to reveal their travel histories but now more and more people are coming forward.
“Four cases which were found positive in south Kashmir had contracted it through the members of religious gathering,” he said. “The process of tracing the men who attended the congregation is being seriously pursued.”
He said there are 87 people from Kashmir who were currently in Nizamuddin and have been put in quarantine in Delhi itself.
“They have been put under quarantine, we are in touch with delhi police on this issue,” he said.
Notably on March 24, a 65-year-old died in Kashmir. He was a part of the religious gathering at Nizamuddin and had returned to Kashmir on March 16.