Category: Union Territory

‘Mehbooba is working on series of reformative measures to empower people’

Srinagar: Invoking the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s “vision and commitment” to address the impending issues of governance, economic stability and political resolution of Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and Education Minister, Naeem Akhtar Saturday said the recent “unfortunate” events in the region have reinvigorated the debate over the ideas put forth by the late leader.

“Mufti Saheb always believed that for permanent and lasting peace to be established in the South Asian region reconciliation and dialogue is imperative. The unfolding of recent events on borders or within the Valley has once again demonstrated that any sort of violence and escalation is counterproductive and dangerous,” he said while addressing a workers convention in Ganderbal, a PDP statement said.

Appealing for broader consensus and shunning of rhetoric, Akhtar said the roadmap for peace has already been laid out and envisaged by the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and hoped that voices of reason and sanity are heard so as to prevent further loss of human lives and economic destabilisation.

He said during the last fourth months, the people of Kashmir have suffered immensely as a consequence of plots of nefarious elements.

“And now it is high time to introspect and analyse that how violence has and will serve the purpose of resolution and addressing the day-to-day issues of the people.”

Akhtar said the PDP has from the very onset stood against any sort and form of violence and this is the fundamental objective of the idea propagated by Mufti Saheb.

“Nothing can be achieved by working against the cause of peace as has been established by the past series of events,” he added.

He said while the state of Jammu and Kashmir is faced with many challenges the government headed by Ms Mehbooba Mufti is working on series of reformative measures to empower the people of the state, and assured that the agenda of development and good governance will be implemented as soon as the situation gets normalised completely.

Lauding the efforts of the party workers for braving all odds and staying firmly with the idea and principles of the PDP, he said that our collective efforts have succeeded in stabilising the situation, and there is a lot that needs to be done to restore the dignity and livelihood of the common man.

Srinagar: To safeguard the interests of students, Private Schools Association of Kashmir (PSAK) Saturday decided to provide provisional promotion to all classes except class 10th and 12th with immediate effect.

In a joint meeting of Executive Members of PSAK and Coaching Centres Association (CCA) of Kashmir held under the chairmanship of G N Var, a number of other decisions were also taken to save the precious time of students.

“As of now, we have decided to give provisional promotion to all classes up to Class 9th and class 11th till a final decision is taken,” said Var in a statement issued this afternoon. “This will give an immediate relief to lakhs of students and their parents who are living in a state of dilemma due to the turmoil.”

The Association said that students are living under severe stress and the provisional promotion will provide them a direction to move forward. “Now the new syllabus and books will be issued and students will prepare for new session” said Var.

It was also decided in the meeting that Schools will open during deal period to start new admissions and issue assignments and do other academic work. “Our schools will work overtime during the deal period to help, counsel and guide the students,” said Var.

Regarding Coaching Centres it was also decided to provide helping hand to affected students. “All coaching centres have decided to help the needy students particularly those affected during the turmoil. Any affected student should contact the CCA and we will waive off his fee. In addition to it we will also provide free coaching to such students,” said Var.

Both PSAK and CCA called on the government to immediately release all the arrested students so that their life and career is not ruined. (CNS)

‘We believe in religious ethos, we are not hypocrites like Indian rulers’

Srinagar: The Joint resistance leadership led by Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, in response to the request of Sikh community, has postponed the “Lal Chowk Chaloo” program on Monday the 14th of November 2016.

In a statement issued here, the Hurriyat leaders said that they believe in the golden ethos of religious freedom and tranquility.

They said that age old strong social and communal fabric stands testimony to their rich and glorious past.

Giving details, the pro-freedom leaders said that on 14 November 2016 only “Lal Chowk Chalo” program has been postponed rest of the day’s activities remain unchanged.

“We don’t believe in hypocrisy and dualism like the puppets of Indian rulers, who lockdown the Mosques here but participate in the religious activities of others, proving the intimacy and familiarity to their coalition partners,” they said.

The leaders appealed to the people to follow the programs and courageously defeat the nefarious designs of those who want to sabotage it for their own interests. (PTK)

Srinagar: J&K and Himachal Pradesh are all set to witness season’s first spell of rains and thundershowers, reports quoting Skymet Weather said on Saturday.

All thanks to the fresh Western Disturbance which is now affecting the Western Himalayas.

Moving eastwards, the system is presently marked over North Pakistan and adjoining Jammu and Kashmir. It is likely to give scattered snowfall and rain over the higher reaches of both the states, while middle and lower region would see light rains.

Though, the region has been witnessing on and off Western Disturbances but so far, no system has been active enough to give any weather activity.

Not only this, maximum temperatures across Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh will now drop significantly but minimums will increase marginally due to increased levels of humidity.

At present, both the states have been witnessing cloudy sky conditions. This will also mark the onset of winters over North India.

According to the weathermen at Skymet Weather, Western Disturbances between November to February tend to affect the lower latitudes. Further with the frequency increasing, we can now expect these systems to start affect the weather over the hilly region of North India.

Meteorologists predict season’s first widespread snow by the end of November or early December.

Srinagar: Eight year old girl kickboxing champion Tajamul Islam has bagged gold medal in the World championship held in Andria, Italy.

Tajamul, hailing from Tarkpora village of Bandipora, bagged medal after defeating her rival from United States in the final. The world championship was held in Italy from November 5 to 11. Tajamul represented Kick Boxing Federation of India in the world event. In the event the talented kid took part in six bouts and remained unbeaten.

Tajamul , who studies in Army Goodwill School, Bandipora is basically a Wushu player but upon trying her luck in Kickboxing she achieved immediate success.

Her journey started in 2014 when she joined a local academy, which trains young boys and girls in martial arts.

She was declared the best fighter of Jammu and Kashmir after she won the state level championship, held last year in Jammu. 

Srinagar: Employees Joint Action Committee president Abdul Qayoom Wani who was released on bail from Kupwara Jail on Thursday has said that arrests shall not hamper his resolve in any condition.    

    “I shall continue to raise my voice against the high handedness, violation of human rights, use of pellet guns, innocent killing of citizens and public atrocities and the sentiments of public shall be always honoured,” he said adding that EJAC will continue its efforts at legal, administrative and organizational level for reinstating of terminated employees and these hapless employees shall not be left in lurch all alone. 

    Wani strongly condemned the orders asking the teachers to attend night duty as Chowkidars of schools and such orders have enormously effected the status and honor of teachers and such tyrannical orders shall not be accepeted. He asked the teachers not to implement such autocratic orders and at the same time advised the teachers to explore all the possibilities with civil society for the protection and safe guarding of school buildings. He said that arsonists cannot be in any way well wishers of the society and torching of schools is highly condemnable. 

    Wani said that educating children is a sacred duty, so those who burn the schools cannot be friends under any way as they wany to keep the society and people in dark and which we have to fight at all levels jointly. He said that all those Officers who compel teachers for night duties as chowkidars are enemies of teaching community and if any teacher gets affected, the whole responsibility shall lie on these officers and will be held personally responsible.

     Wani also said that why those people have shut their mouths who raised hue and cry and boasted for providing VIP status to teachers and tried to disgrace and dishonor teachers in the name of holding Exams of RET’s, ban on Tuition Centers, inducting KAS Officers as joint Directors and now the last designating them as night chowkidars. “So the people at the helm of affairs in Education Department should  ponder before issuing such orders as otherwise teachers may be constrained to come on roads again and the whole responsibility shall squarely lie on Government,” he said and  urged the Goverm,emt to withdraw this autocratic order at once. (CNS)

Srinagar: Commissioner Secretary School Education Department, Shaleen Kabra, today chaired a meeting to review the arrangements put in place for the conduct of board examinations and implementation of various flagship programmes under Education Sector.
Director School Education, Chairman BOSE, Additional Secretary School Education, Joint Directors and other senior officers from Directorate of School Education attended the meeting, while as Chief Education Officers of the valley districts participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
The Director School Education briefed the Commissioner Secretary that for board examinations which are commencing from November 14, 550 exam centres have been established for 55000 candidates for class 10th examination while as 484 exam centres have been set up for about 48000 candidates for class 12th examination across the Kashmir Division.
Regarding the examination arrangements, he said that special control rooms have been established across the valley at CEOs and ZEOs level, while a control room has also been established at directorate office for better coordination. He informed that Magistrates for each exam centre have already been notified, besides relocation of the centres is being done wherever required. He added that night vigil is being maintained at all exam centres and examination material has been dispatched to respective police stations for their further distribution.
On the occasion, the Commissioner Secretary directed CEOs to give wide publicity regarding relocation of exam centres so that candidates do not face any inconvenience.
For fresh admissions, . Kabra said that no-detention policy for school children would be made effective from 2017, meanwhile previous practice will continue. During the meeting, he was informed that about 5000 students have been affected by damage to school buildings in various fire incidents. He directed to accommodate affected students by providing them admissions in nearby schools and asked the CEOs to rearrange staff among these schools.
While reviewing the progress in implementing various flagship programmes, the Commissioner Secretary was informed that various schools have been identified for establishing herbal gardens and a few have already been established. The Secretary called for early completion of preparatory and construction work for such gardens.
On introduction of smart classrooms, he directed the CEOs for installation of logistics in their respective districts within 20 days so that these classrooms are made properly functional. He said that purpose of such classrooms is not only to provide digital literacy and computer training to students and teachers but to act as hub of community knowledge centres as well.