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Srinagar, Sep 09: Land under paddy cultivation in Kashmir is on decline as around 30,000 hectares of land has been lost since 2013.

Official documents accessed by news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), revealed that 2012-13 the land under paddy in Kashmir was 162,309 hectares while the production was 621.64 metric tons with the yield of 38.3 quintals per hectare.

In 2013-14, the land under paddy in Kashmir was 158,356 hectares while the production was 693.64 metric tons with yield of 43.8 quintals per hectare while in 2014-15 the land under paddy in Kashmir was 155,432 hectares while as the production was 240.92 metric ton with yield 15.5 quintal per hectare, it adds.

In year 2015-16 the land under paddy in Kashmir was 141,340 hectares while the production was 857.84 metric tons with the yield of 60.69 quintals per hectare while in 2016-17, the land under paddy in Kashmir was 141,340 hectares while as the production was 898.73 metric ton with yield 63.75 quintal per hectare.

As per document the land under paddy cultivation remained same for year 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 too, however, the production increased 900.99 metric ton and yield 63.75 quintal per hectare in year 2017-18 to production of 968.83 metric ton and yield 68.55 quintal per hectare in year 2018-19 and then production of 975.38 metric ton and yield of 69.01 quintal per hectare in year 2019-20.

As per data the land under paddy cultivation in year 2020-21 and 2021-22 was same that 134,067 with production 956.17 metric ton and yield 71.32 quintal per hectare in year 2020-21 and production of 966.63 metric ton and yield of 72.1 quintal per hectare in year 2021-22.

So as per data since 2012-13 the area under paddy has decreased 28,242 hectares while the production has increased by 345 metric ton and yield in quintals per hectare has increased by 33.8 quintal per hectare.

Meanwhile experts (Plz name experts) believe that the agricultural land is shrinking at an alarming rate in Kashmir with authorities acting as a mute spectator.

They said that thousands of kanals of abi awal land have been converted into for commercial purposes across the Valley.

They believe that if the land conversion takes place with present pace time would not be far when there will be no land for paddy either.

They said that besides that trend of constructing complexes on agricultural land, farmers are also shifting to the horticulture sector.

They also said that the agriculture department has failed to provide farmers with varieties from which they could make a livelihood, farmers are shifting towards the horticulture sector and are planting apple trees on land otherwise meant for agricultural purposes.

The number of brick kilns, coming up of big complexes, residential houses and shifting to the horticulture sector have been the main reasons that agricultural land is shrinking day by day, they said.

Farmers also said that it is not possible to earn livelihood from the agriculture sector due to which most people have already shifted to the horticulture sector.

They said that they aren’t even getting the amount from the paddy that they spend on it from paddy sapling plantation to threshing—(KNO)

Jammu, Sept 9: A Fast Track court here has acquitted two brothers, accused of raping an 18-year-old girl from Chandigarh in September 2010.

According to the prosecution, a complaint was received alleging therein that on the intervening night of 16 and 17 September 2010, the girl, who after having Darshan of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine, was sitting at the Bus Stand Jammu waiting for a bus to Chandigarh.

At the same time, two youths— Mukat Singh alias Sunny and his brother Sangeet Singh alias Songi sons of Gian Singh of R. S. Pura Jammu—came toward her and one of them introduced himself as Sub-Inspector of Jammu police, though he was not in uniform, according to the complaint.

The duo then asked the girl, who had come to the shrine alone after a tiff with her family, that it was not “good for her” to stay at the bus stand and instead asked her to stay in a Gurudwara nearby and that she may go to Chandigarh on next day. With one of them having introduced himself as police sub inspector, the youths made her to sit in a vehicle and took her to a house where they allegedly raped her turn by turn, the complaint alleged.

The complaint to the police was made by the girl’s father after 12 days and reason for delay and the complainant said that her daughter was very tense and under tremendous fear and revealed the facts only after great persuasion.

Subsequently, the police filed an FIR and after the investigation, the offences under section 366, 376, 382, 342, 170, 34 RPC were proved against the accused persons and chargesheet was filed which culminated into trial.

After hearing both the prosecution and the counsel for the accused, the presiding officer of the Fast Track Court Jammu (cases against women), Khalil Choudhary, acquitted the brothers, finding the evidence against them not “definite, positive, consistent and coherent.”

“From the evidence ….., it cannot be established that victim of the offence was kidnapped/abducted or confined by the accused. The circumstances in this regard are highly doubtful and improbable,” the court said as per the order, a copy of which lies with GNS.

As regards subjecting the girl to rape, the court said, “It has come in record that the prosecutrix has been produced before Gynecologist and it has been established that the medical examination of the prosecutrix was conducted on 26.09.2010 i.e on the date of registration of FIR and as per the statement of this witness (Gynecologist) neither there was any evidence of recent sexual intercourse nor there was any sign of struggle on the part of the prosecutrix.”

“Even the medical evidence belies the theory of rape as is sought to be alleged by the prosecutrix,” the court said and ultimately acquitted the accused brothers.

“therefore, on cumulative consideration of the matter in its totality having regard to the statements of witnesses would suggest that there is no concrete evidence on record connecting the accused with the commission of offence,” the court added. (GNS)

New Delhi: Constant sense of fear and apprehension among Kashmiri Pandits is why very few of them are willing to return to their homeland in the Valley, veteran politician Karan Singh has said.

Singh, who was speaking at the release of a book, “When the Heart Speaks”, memoirs of well-known cardiologist Dr Upendra Kaul, said most of the Kashmiri Pandits who could afford to go out have gone and “settled for good” — be it abroad or different parts of the country.

However, Kashmir will always remain “incomplete” without Kashmiri Pandits, Singh said.

“Kashmir is beautiful and beguiling and the tragedy that has taken over the Valley since 1947 is heartbreaking,” Singh, whose father Maharaja Hari Singh was the last Dogra ruler of Kashmir, said.

He commended Dr Kaul and other Kashmiri Pandits like him who have returned and built their homes in the Valley but added that “such examples are very rare”.

“Very few Kashmiri Pandits are doing that because there is always a sense of fear and a sense of apprehension and that will take a long time to go because the trauma through which they (Kashmiri Pandits) have been I think they are not just prepared to face that again,” he said.

“As it is, everybody who could get away has gone. Like the people who could settle in other parts of India have settled there. The people who could settle abroad have settled abroad…Now, I think special care needs to be taken of the migrants who are living peacefully in Jammu since they came, and also of Kashmir Pandits who want to go back,” he added.

Singh described the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s as one of the most “terrible and tragic” incidents that took place in Jammu and Kashmir.

He also heaped praises on the community, saying much of what he has learnt in life is through the education given to him by Kashmiri Pandits.

“It is such a brilliant community, all the vidya (education) that I got, whether it is BK Madan, Prof Parmanandna, Prof PN Chaku, Prof JN Bhan, Prof SN Pandit and others, I got from them. I must take this opportunity perhaps to place on record my deep and abiding gratitude to the Kashmiri Pandit community,” he noted.

Singh commended the author, who is a world-renowned cardiologist, for penning down his memoir and said Dr Kaul is not just a great professional but also a great human being and the love that he has for Kashmir and his patients is really moving.

The book launch at the India International Centre (IIC) was also attended by AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria and noted Civil Rights lawyer Prashant Bhushan among others.

“When the Heart Speaks”, currently available offline and online, is the life story of Dr Kaul — beginning from his ancestral village in Kashmir to becoming one of the top cardiologists of the country.

Dr Kaul said his book is primarily about Kashmir, his mother Gauri Kaul and his varied experiences over the last seven decades.

Recollecting his story, he said, “My acceptability and recognition by the people of Kashmir came in the 1990s when I was working with AIIMS. People of both communities were affected. The displaced persons pained me and I did whatever I could. That is how Dr Upendra Kaul became Dr U Kaul.

Speaking on Kashmir, he said, “Kashmir is my soul” and asked Kashmiri Pandits to look forward to returning to the Valley.

“Nobody can snatch your motherland from you,” he added. PTI

Srinagar, Sep 08: A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court granted bail to 17 accused in the lynching murder case of a DSP Mohammad Ayub Pandit who was murdered by a mob in 2017 outside the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta, Srinagar.
Additional Sessions Judge MS Manhas, who was appointed special judge for the NIA court, said in the 81-page order that there is no concrete evidence against the accused so far. “Whatever the charges have been made in the charge sheet, there has been no ground on the part of the prosecution to prove those charges,” he said
“Nor does it appear to the court that the accused committed the crime. Since the trial so far has failed to prove concrete evidence against the accused, orders are issued to release the 17 accused on bail,” he said and directed each accused to appear before the court on every hearing, including to furnish a surety amount of two lakh rupees, to investigate, directly or indirectly, not to attempt to influence the evidence and not to go out of the court’s jurisdiction without permission. ordered.(KNS)

In High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, (Office of Registrar (Recruitment) at Srinagar under Advertisement Notice No. 03 of 2022/RG/NG, Dated: 30-08-2022 for 2 Posts with 10 Vacancies but OM (Open-Merit) Candidates seems Not Eligible to Apply.

Following is the link for the recruitment order Advertisement: Advertisement (File Size:143KB)

Srinagar, Sept 07: The National Investigation Agency on Wednesday filed a charge sheet against 8 accused persons in a case related to hatching conspiracy by JeM militants to carry out attacks in South Kashmir.

In a statement, issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) a spokesperson said that NIA filed charge sheet in NIA Special Court, Jammu in the case pertaining to the conspiracy hatched by local and Pakistani militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), alongwith OGWs, to execute militants acts against security forces in South Kashmir.

The statement reads that the case was initially registered as FIR no. 50/2022 dated 11.03.2022 at PS Pulwama and re-registered by NIA on 08.04.2022.

“Investigations have revealed that the accused persons had provided safe shelter, transportation and other logistics support to JeM militant Aquaib Mushtaq Bhat and Kamaal Bhai @ Jatt, who were planning to carry out militant acts against the security forces. Subsequently, security forces had launched a search operation in the area of Chewa Kalan in Pulwama in which both of them were killed,” it reads.

It reads that the chargesheet was filed against Naseer Ahmed Malik, Imtiyaz Ahmed Rather, Rayees Ahmed Sheikh, Yawer Rashid Ganaie, Suhail Ahmed Khan, Shahid Ahmed Shergojri, Anayat Gulzar Bhat and Jahangir Ahmed Dar—all residents of Pulwama.

The statement reads that further investigations in the case are in progress—(KNO)

Srinagar, September 07: Police on Wednesday said that two militants were killed in a chance encounter in Bejbhera area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

The Kashmir Police Zone while tweeting wrote, ” Two militants neutralised in a chance encounter by Anantnag Police in Thajiwara, Bijbehara area of Anantnag. Further details shall follow,”.(GNS)

Eidgah is only meant for prayers. We will vacate the ‘grabbed’ Waqf land around Eidgah and turn it into a playfield for children: Waqf Board chairperson Dr Darakhshan Andrabi