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Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 76 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 1,24,373, even as one death due to the virus took place in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Out of the fresh cases, 16 were from Jammu division and 60 from Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

Srinagar district recorded the highest of 32 cases, including 22 travellers, followed by 11 in Jammu district. Baramulla was the only other district to have double-digit positive cases in the past 24 hours.

While nine districts — Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian, Doda, Kathua Kishtwar, Rajouri, Reasi and Ramban — did not report any fresh cases, eight others recorded cases in single digits, the officials said.

The number of active cases was 823 in the union territory, while 1,21,617 patients have recovered, the officials said.

One death was reported from Kashmir division in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll due to the virus to 1,933.

PTI

Jammu: Three alleged drug peddlers were arrested with 57 kg of poppy here on Thursday, officials said.

The accused have been identified as Baljinder Singh, Azad Singh and Kulvinder Singh, all residents of Punjab, they said.

A police team intercepted two Punjab-bound trucks at Jhajjar Kotli and recovered 28.76 kg and 28.50 kg of poppy from the two vehicles, the police said.

In this regard, two cases were registered at Jhajjar Kotli police station and all three accused arrested, they said.

Further investigation in the two cases is underway, they said.

Srinagar: President Ram Nath Kovind said in his address in the Central Hall of Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir has moved rapidly towards a new democratic future.

He said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have also given full support to the development policy of the Central Government. Only a few weeks ago, for the first time since independence, the Zilla Parishad elections in Jammu and Kashmir were concluded successfully, in which a large number of voters participated.

“After the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been empowered with new entitlements. The development-oriented policy of the Central Government has also received wholehearted support from the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Only a few weeks ago, the elections to district councils in Jammu and Kashmir were held successfully for the first time after independence,” Kovind said.

The President said the large-scale participation of voters in the District Development Council (DDC) polls in the Union Territory had shown that Jammu and Kashmir was forging ahead towards a new democratic future at a rapid pace and the grant of new entitlements had empowered the people of the region.

“After the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Health Scheme, every family of Jammu and Kashmir is assured of free treatment worth Rs 5 lakh. A bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has also been established in Jammu,” he said.

Kovind said after becoming a Union Territory, elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Council were held successfully a few months ago, and now, people of Ladakh were taking decisions related to the development of their region expeditiously. (PTK)

Seeks promotion of fish production, processing and marketing in both provinces of J&K

Jammu: Principal Secretary Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Navin Kumar Choudhary, chaired a review meeting of Fisheries Department here Thursday.

The meeting had a detailed review of implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana, PMMSY besides assessing status of release of funds by the Finance Department.

Pertinently, Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana is an initiative launched by the Government of India to establish a comprehensive framework and reduce infrastructural gaps in the fisheries sector. The policy envisages to integrate all the fishermen with agricultural farmers and provide all the facilities available through various farmer welfare schemes to the fishermen.

Navin Choudhary directed the officers to identify potential areas of fish production and prioritise setting up of such units for better growth of the sector and welfare of those engaged in the trade. Assistance to existing units and their expansion should also be another priority, he added saying that with increased production, trade and export of the produce also needs to be exhilarated, he added.

Emphasis was laid, by the Principal Secretary, on generating awareness among the SC-ST people to start fisheries related businesses. The department was directed to utilise different media channels to advertise about the PMMSY and various other initiatives of the department, by the Principal Secretary. He also called for involving panchayat and BDC members to better deliver the benefits of these schemes.

Navin Choudhary took detailed review about fish production works being done in various districts and directed the senior officers to identify variety of fish best suited to climatic conditions and water availability of each districts. He said that the department and its officers must work diligently to deliver benefits of welfare and developmental schemes on ground. Give equal attention and efforts to all districts of both the provinces, he stressed upon the officers.

Reiterating the need for developing better marketing and export facilities, Principal Secretary said that increasing the fish production two-fold is no good unless there is good fish processing, storage, packaging and logistics facilities. People need to be encouraged and assisted for starting entrepreneurial ventures in these sectors, he maintained.

Later, detailed project reports were sought by the Principal Secretary, in which he asked the department to furnish relevant details as to how and where such facilities could be established in both the provinces of the UT. He also assured support from the government’s side to assist private players for venturing into the sector.

Principal Secretary also directed the department to identify potential of fish production in certain untapped water resources of the union territory. Later, the department’s finances and status of pending projects was also discussed.

The meeting was attended by Director General Budget, Finance Department; Director Fisheries, Bashir Ahmad Bhat; Director Finance, Animal, Sheep Husbandry & Fisheries Department; Joint Director, Resources, Finance Department; all Joint Directors of Fisheries Department among other senior officers. Assistant Director, Fisheries from all districts also participated through virtual mode. (KINS)

Jammu: In a significant and major development, Government of Jammu & Kashmir Thursday enhanced the rate of stipend for trainees undergoing Elementary and Advanced level training courses in various training centres of Handicrafts and Handloom departments.

The monthly stipend in Handicrafts sector has been enhanced from Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- for Elementary course and from Rs. 700/- to Rs. 1500/- for Advanced Training Course. Similarly, in respect of Handloom Training Courses, the rate of monthly stipend has been increased from Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- for Ready-Made Garments (RMG) and Weaving Training Courses.

The enhancement in stipend was long overdue after it was found that the meagre stipends in this sector was failing to attract artisans to pursue craft activity as their profession. The enhancement will not only encourage target groups to this vocation but will also encourage the school drop outs to join the training centres in order to learn skills for securing their future.

The move by the Government is seen to infuse a fresh lease of enthusiasm and motivation among the trainees. Close to 13000 artisans and weavers of Jammu and Kashmir in different crafts of Handicrafts and Handloom sector shall be benefited by this enhancement.

It will further increase competition among the youth to seek skill training in training centers of the department and will encourage the traditional artisans and weavers to seek full time capacity building training, thereby helping them to become self reliant.

In the long run, the training imparted would help artisans and weavers to produce more diversified products and become familiar with new ideas, motifs and designs after getting acquainted with new trends in their trades. The decision of the Government to approve revision of stipend rates has been widely appreciated by the trainees and fulfills their long pending demand. This revision in the stipend has taken place after a long gap of 8 years.

Hailing the decision of the Government, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary to the Government Industries and Commerce Department said that the endeavour of this government has all along been to improve the financial and socio-economic conditions of the artisans and weavers associated with various crafts and would enable unemployed youth to start their own ventures and become job providers rather than job seekers.

Currently there are 369 & 179 Elementary and Advanced Training Centres in the Handicrafts sector and 99 Ready-Made Garments, Weaving and Kani centres in the Handloom sector of Jammu and Kashmir providing training to unemployed youth in different trades/crafts. The enhancement in the stipend comes days after the Government conferred Padma and State Awards to Ghulam Rasool Khan and Sajad Hussain Dar in recognition of their role played in the promotion of Kashmir Handicrafts.

The enhancement in the stipend has been welcomed and termed as historic by the Apex trade bodies like KCCI, FCIK and PHD Chamber of Commerce. Appreciating the LG Administration, various associations concerned with the Kashmir Craft including TAHAFUZ have expressed their gratitude for taking this momentous decision to improve the lot of artisans.

The enhancement in the stipend has been also welcomed by various Associations of Handicrafts and Handloom of Jammu Division, especially by Jan Shakti Handicrafts Union Jammu & Jammu Province Handloom Cooperative Societies Federation, who have expressed their gratitude towards the momentous decision taken.

This revision in the stipend has taken place after a long gap of 8 years. (KINS)

Srinagar: With no Covid-19 vaccine for kids yet, Dr. Nisar on Thursday said it is hard to beat the pandemic without vaccinating children.
“We won’t be able to defeat Covid-19 until children are vaccinated,” said influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement to news agency KINS.

“The most realistic way to achieve herd immunity is through wide-scale vaccination,” he said.

“Herd immunity is achieved when most of the population in a community is immune to the disease so that the virus can no longer spread easily from person to person.”

“In order to achieve herd immunity to Covid-19, 80-90 percent people need to be vaccinated,” the doctor said.

“That is unlikely to be achieved if children who constitute a huge proportion of the population are unvaccinated.”

“There are around 4.8 million kids in Jammu and Kashmir who cannot be vaccinated,” he said.

“And, if we leave a large number of the population unimmunized, we will not be able to break the chain of infection and pandemic will linger on.”

“Covid-19 vaccine is required for children to return to classrooms and is important for ensuring safe learning environment in schools,” Dr Nisar said.

“Children can get infected at school and spread the virus to parents and grandparents at home who are more likely to develop severe disease. Children can also transmit the virus to teachers and other staff at school.”

“We saw more adults being affected by Covid-19, but children are certainly not immune,” he said.

“While most children who get Covid-19 infection develop mild illness, several hundreds have died of respiratory failure or an inflammatory syndrome.”

“It is unjust to allow kids to take on great burdens during the pandemic but not give them the opportunity to benefit from a vaccine,” said Dr Nisar.

“A pediatric vaccine would not only help children, but it will be the basis of eventually eliminating Covid-19 in our population.”

“While the trials of Covid-19 vaccine for children have started, kids may have to wait for few more months before they will be included in vaccination schedules,” he said. (KINS)

Minimum temperature to dip further and Snow, Rain likely in J&K, Ladakh on Feb 2-3

Severe cold wave continues unabated in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on Thursday as the meteorological (MET) office forecast another spell of snow and rain on February 2 and 3.

“Dry weather is likely to continue in J&K and Ladakh till January 31 after which we are expecting a spell of snow and rain of light intensity on February 2 and 3.

“Improvement in both minimum and maximum temperatures is expected after January 31,” an official of the MET department said.

The ongoing 40-day long of harsh winter cold the ‘Chillai Kalan’ will also end on January 31.

Srinagar recorded minus 5.6 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature on the day while it was minus 12.3 in Pahalgam and minus 13.4 in Gulmarg.

Leh town of Ladakh had minus 16.8, Kargil minus 21.3 and Drass 28.1 as the night’s lowest temperature.

Jammu city had 6.2, Katra 6, Batote 0.5, Bannihal minus 2.2 and Bhaderwah minus 2 as the minimum temperature.