New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday observed that it is essential to promote youth hailing from Kashmir by educating them, while observing that everybody makes mistakes in their youth.

Hearing a plea by the UT government challenging the Jammu and Kashmir High Court order, directing the Jammu and Kashmir Women’s Development Corporation to release further loan instalments to Mubashir Ashraf Bhat, a bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant said: “We need to promote the youth of Kashmir by educating them.”

It added that if it were to set aside the high court order, then it would have a negative impact.

As advocate Taruna Prasad, the standing counsel for J&K, contended that the matter should be heard as there was a breach of trust, the bench said that Bhat might have committed a mistake, but it can be overlooked in this case.

There is a mistake on her part, “but we all have done mistakes in our youth”, it said, adding that if the appeal were to be allowed, then it may result in cancellation of loan resources available for the Kashmiri youth as it declined to entertain the appeal.

Initially, the corporation released the first instalment of loan in favour of Bhat, however she was denied the subsequent instalment for changing her admission to Khwaja Yunus Ali Medical College, Bangladesh from the Community Based Medical College, Bangladesh without intimating the corporation.

A single-judge bench of the high court had ruled against Bhat, but a division bench ruled in her favour. The Union Territory challenged this order before the apex court.

The corporation had demanded the return of the first instalment of the loan issued to Bhat and declined to approve subsequent instalments. Bhat moved the high court challenging this decision, contending that she was forced to change her admission due to non-availability of seats in Community Based Medical College. (IANS)

Asks for massive awareness campaign, Aadhaar enrolment in health institutions, schools

Jammu:  Chief Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta Friday pitched for 100 % Aadhaar penetration in J&K, saying that it will facilitate effective and efficient provision of public services to the people.

He said that there is a need to specifically target the population in the age group of 0-5 years by holding special camps in Anganwari Centres across J&K.

Dr.  Mehta made these comments in the meeting held to review the status of Aadhar penetration in J&K in which Ms. Bhavna Garg, DDG, UIDIA and other senior Secretaries of the government participated.

The Chief Secretary laid emphasis on making Aadhaar saturation a part of the awareness campaign to be run by the IT Department and directed that all pending notification of all the schemes in which expenditure is made from consolidated funds of India and consolidated funds of J&K UT should be issued within 15 days.

He directed for immediate upscaling of Aadhar enrolment in hospitals and schools.

Dr. Mehta directed that 1831 bio-metric enrolment kits should be made functional immediately and pending 30 lakh mandatory bio-metric should be completed within a month through special camps and outreach programmes.

Earlier DDG, UIDAI, Bhavna Garg while making presentation on status of live Aadhaar as on 28.02.2022 informed that in the age group of  0-5 years 72.76 %Aadhaar penetration has been done.

She further informed that in age groups of 5-18 years and above 18 years,83.68% and 87.29 %Aadhar enrolment have been done respectively.

It was further informed that Ganderbal, Kulgam, Samba, Shopian districts have to redouble their efforts in improving Aadhar enrolments

Bhavna said that IPPB and BSNL also need to ensure that their non functional Aadhar centres become functional on priority so that the process of Aadhaar penetration in J&K is expedited.

It was further informed that till date more than 4.0 lac Aadhaar have been generated by Anganwari workers and an amount of 63 lakhs between 2018-2019 and 46 lakhs between 2020-2021 have been distributed to the Anganwari workers.

In J&K, 410 special Aadhaar enrolment camps have been organized by District Administration under Back to Village Programme, My Town My Pride Programme, Jan Sunvayi and Jan Adhikar across UT of J&K where 62195 enrolments and 43688 updates were performed.

Special Aadhar camps are being conducted regularly for marginalised sections to cover left out population across UT of J&K.

22 camps have been organised from April -2021 to December 2021 in which more than 4000 residents have been provided Aadhaar enrolment/update services.

The Chief Secretary directed J&K Bank to improve the authentication success rate to 100% and also promote usage of IRIS Devices in the Aadhaar enrolment.

Dr. Mehta directed the School Education Department for running awareness campaign in all schools to ensure that no student is left out of the government’s effort of achieving 100% Aadhaar enrolment.

Appreciates J&K Govt, J&KERA for bringing dramatic turnaround in implementation of JTFRP

Srinagar: A 3-member team of the World Bank led by Mr Abhas Jha, Practice Manager, (Climate Change, and Disaster Risk Management) South Asia Region, World Bank and comprising of  Mr Deepak Singh, Lead  Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank and  Mr Hemang Karelia, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist of World Bank presently on a  two day visit to the J&K has appreciated the J&K Govt. and J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency for bringing around a dramatic turnaround in the implementation of the World Bank funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project

Abhas Jha, Practice Manager (Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management) South Asia Region, World Bank said this during a meeting held at SKICC Srinagar here today to review the progress of World Bank funded $ 250 million USD, JTFRP

Abhas Jha of World Bank said that “I have seen that JKERA as an organisation has certainly done something beyond the call of duty to bring dramatic turnaround in the project implementation, he added that excellent job has been done by J&KERA under the various sectors of health, disaster management, education, livelihoods etc which will have long-term positive impact for many generations to come”

Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Chief Executive Officer, J&KERA while briefing the high level team of World Bank team about latest progress of the project said that that under the various components of JTFRP an expenditure of Rs 921 has been made till date

He added that despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020-2021 the project has shown a remarkable turnaround in the implementation. He added that during the last two years 90% of procurement and 80% of disbursements have been undertaken in the project

Earlier in the day the World Bank team visited the Composite Market Centre for Silk at Rajbagh and Composite Market Centre for Wool at Bemina, Srinagar which have been completed under the World Bank funded JTFRP under the component of Strengthening of Livelihoods of World Bank funded JTFRP. The team was informed about the vital role played by the two sub-projects in the revitalisation of the traditional Wool and Silk industry in J&K. It was said that various latest weaving and processing equipment’s procured under the project for these factories has  given a big boost in production of quality silk and wool products and has directly benefited more than 15,000 families associated with these two sectors.

The Team visited the Headquarters of the Fire & Emergency Dept. at Batamallo were the senior officers of the F&ES informed that team that (03) different types of  fire tenders and  latest fire rescue equipment’s worth  Rs 14.48 crores have been received by the Dept. from the Project Management Unit of  JTFRP. It was added that these include (17No) Multipurpose Fire tenders, (09No) Regular Fire Tenders, (17No) Medium Weight Quick Response vehicles which has considerably increased the capacity of the F&ES Dept. in quickly controlling the accidental fire incidents in the UT. Mock drill and live demonstration of these various fire rescue equipment’s – Hydraulic spreader cutter/combi tools, fire Entry suits, fire proximity suits etc was made before the visiting team.

During the visit to under Construction Additional Block at Bone & Joints Hospital, Barzulla the team was briefed about the salient features of the State of Art, 120 bedded Hospital which is being constructed at a cost of Rs 89 Crores under the World Bank funded JTFRP.

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed the Finance Bill on Friday, completing the Budget exercise, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pointed out that the Budget did not put any extra tax burden on the people despite the economic downturn due to the pandemic.

The Finance Bill was approved by the Lower House after accepting 39 official amendments moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and rejecting the amendments proposed by the opposition by voice vote.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill, the Finance Minister said that during the pandemic and the ongoing recovery from the pandemic, government took a conscious decision not to burden people with additional taxes.

She said there is a continuity in not bringing newer taxation, and pointed out that a report by OECD said that at least 32 countries increased tax rates during the pandemic, but India did not.

“This finance Bill has been received as being one of the boring one, but it is indeed a budget which did not burden the common public, but put the money where the multiplier would be maximum,” she said.

Responding to criticism by MPs on Corporate tax reduction, the Minister said it has helped the economy, the government and the companies “We are now starting to see the positive impact. We have already collected 7.3 lakh crore till yesterday, the reduction has given us a reward despite the year being pandemic year,” she said. Responding to questions on fuel price rise, the Minsiter blamed the Ukraine- Russia war.

“…It has nothing to do with the election time. If the oil marketing companies think that they are procuring on a 15 days average at a higher rate, obviously we will have to bear it. And this war that is happening in Ukraine, the impact of that is on all countries, supply chains are disrupted, particularly on crude oil and so on,” she said.

The Budget this year included new taxes on crypto assets, which was also passed in the Finance Bill. As some opposition members accused the government of creating confusion over crypto currencies, the minister in her reply said, “We are very clear. Whether we want to regulate or ban it, [we will decide] when consultations are concluded. But till then, we are taxing it as a lot of transactions are happening.” (UNI)

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday assured Lok Sabha that sufficient allocations are being made for the defence sector, as his junior minister Ajay Bhatt assured the House of Indian borders being secure after an MP raised the issue of India-China border situation in the Lok Sabha.

Asking a question on defence expenditure, DMK MP TR Baalu said security of Indian borders has become more vulnerable, and this is evident from the experience in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

He said defence expenditure is about 2.33 per cent of GDP, and needs to be enhanced for modernisation.

MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt in reply said Defence Ministry has the highest allocation in the Budget, and thinktank SIPRI has said India is third in the world in spending on defence. Bhatt said defence budget has gone up by 76 per cent between 2011 and 2020.

Rajnath Singh also said defence budget has been increasing, and its growth should not be measured in terms of percentage of the budget or GDP.

He said the Kargil review committee did not recommend any percentage of GDP that should be allocated for the Budget. “We are implementing the suggestions given by the committee,” he said.

Bhatt, replying to concerns on the border situation, said, “India’s borders are secured. Leh-Ladakh was mentioned here, the morale of our soldiers is high… Nation is safe under the leadership of Narendra Modi”.

The India-China standoff began in May 2020 when PLA tried to unilaterally alter the LAC in Eastern Ladakh sector, where the border is not clearly demarcated.

The Chinese action led to an eyeball-to-eyeball situation, especially in Depsang, Pangong Lake, Gogra Hills and Hot Springs areas. Subsequent rounds of talks resulted in disengagement in Pangong Lake and Gogra areas. However, the standoff continues in some other areas. (UNI)

Jammu: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials carried out raids at 11 places in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in connection with the fake gun licences scam in which Rs 2.78 lakh were issued to non-entitled persons.

The ED carried out raids till Thursday evening.

ED sources said teams from Chandigarh, J&K and Delhi started simultaneous raids at 11 locations involving a serving IAS officer and several Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officers, who served as Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) of various districts between 2013 and 2016.

Searches were conducted at residences of serving and retired officers or officials, including Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, former Kupwara DC; Itrat Hussain, JKAS, former Kupwara DC; Ravinder Kumar Bhatt, JKAS, former Kupwara ADC, since dismissed from government service, Tariq Ather and Gajan Singh, former judicial clerks at the arms section in DC’s office in Kupwara district.

Residences of six arms dealers were also raided from where incriminating documents were recovered which reveal that more senior bureaucrats of J&K are involved in the gun licences scam.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is already investigating the case and ED has registered a separate case in this scam to investigate the money laundering and other financial aspects of the scam. (IANS)

New Delhi: India and China on Friday discussed how to take forward their ties, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveying to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that the very large deployments of Chinese troops on the border areas in contravention of bilateral agreements is an “abnormality” in ties.

In remarks to the media after the three-hour delegation level talks with the visiting Chinese foreign minister, the EAM said that Wang Yi had also discussed Beijing’s hosting of the BRICS summit later this year to which it wants the leaders of the five countries to attend, including PM Modi.

Jaishankar said he was “very honest” in his discussions with the Chinese FM “especially in conveying our national sentiments” on the border issue. “The frictions and tension that arise from China’s deployments since April 2020 cannot be reconciled with the normal relationship between two neighbours.

“FM Wang Yi spoke about China’s desire for a return to normalcy referring to the large significance of our ties. I was equally forthcoming that India wants a stable, predictable relationship, but restoration of normalcy will obviously require a restoration of peace and tranquility. “And if we are both committed to improving our ties then this commitment must find full expression in the ongoing disengagement talks,” he said.

He said they still have some ongoing friction areas on the border. “We’ve also made a lot of progress in resolving some other friction areas and Pangong Tso is notable in that regard.”

EAM said that their talks focused on taking relations forward. “So, essentially, our discussion today was how to take this forward. The senior military commanders have been meeting. There have been 15 rounds so far.

“But the point is that so long as there are very large deployments in the border areas which are violative of the 1993 and 96 agreements, clearly the border areas situation is not normal. So the main point I laid out was we have a situation where peace and tranquility have been disturbed, so the situation there is not normal.

“So peace and tranquility is the foundation of the basis of going forward, so then obviously that is disturbed. If you ask me, is our relationship normal today? My answer to you is no, it is not. And it cannot be normal today if the situation in the border areas is abnormal, and surely the presence of a large number of troops in the border areas in contravention of agreements is an abnormality.”

On how hopeful he was of resolving the issues, he said he and Wang Yi have held meetings before, and there have been talks in parallel, not only the senior military commanders, but also eight meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs.

“So they have made considerable progress. I don’t dispute that. In fact, I welcome that. But they haven’t sorted out the issue in entirety. So, our effort is today to sort out the issue in entirety and deal with the disengagement. So that it then allows us to look at the de-escalation possibilities,” he added.

On whether Wang had invited PM Modi for the BRICS summit later this year and how hopeful he was of the PM attending it in view of the border tension, the EAM said the two ministers had “discussed hosting the BRICS summit this year, which China naturally wants all leaders to attend”. But the EAM said that the discussion on the BRICS was separate to that on the border areas. “That was a discussion, there was a parallel but separate discussion in regard to sorting out the situation in the border areas.” (UNI)

By: Raja Syed Rather

Srinagar: The Asia’s largest Tulip garden, located in the foothills of Zabarwan Mountains, here remained a best choice for the tourists in the first three days after it was thrown open for the public.

According to the official figures, over 35,000 tourists including locals, national and international visited Tulip Garden in Srinagar.

Official figures available with a local news gathering agency reveal that 35,228 people thronged the Tulip garden here in the first three days after it was thrown open for public.

Figures reveal that on the first day of opening on March 23, a total of 11,143 tourists visited Tulip garden, which include 4391 locals, 6751 national and one international visitor.

It added that on March 24, a total of 10,824 tourists visit Tulip garden including 3721 locals, 7101 national and two international tourists.

On March 25, a total of 13261 tourists thronged the garden including 5740 locals, 7514 national and 7 international visitors.

Pertinently, the garden was thrown open on March 23 by Chief Secretary A K Mehta in presence of other officials. (KNO)

Jammu: Jammu &Kashmir has emerged among top performers reaching 3rd position among UTs in second edition of Export Preparedness Index 2021 by Niti Aayog.

By securing third place the overall ranking of J&K has jumped over from 36th to 23rd rank with increase its scores from 12.27 to 30.07.

The department of Industries and Commerce through Jammu and Kashmir Trade Promotion Organization (JKTPO- nodal agency for export promotion) has strived hard towards improving its performance in all EPI parameters. It has created an overall export friendly environment due to which J&K has performed exceptionally well on the policy pillar front.

JKTPO has provided various market connects to exporters through BSM, capacity building workshops, trade fairs and exhibitions besides finalization of ODOP products, district export plans under district as export hub.

The Export Preparedness Index is a data-driven endeavor to identify the fundamental areas critical for sub national export promotion. The EPI ranks states and UTs on 4 main pillars including policy, business ecosystem, export ecosystem and export performance besides 11 sub-pillars including export promotion policy, institutional framework, business environment, infrastructure, transport connectivity, access to finance, export infrastructure, trade support, R&D infrastructure, export diversification and growth orientation. The EPI’s primary goal is to instill competition among all Indian states (‘Coastal’, ‘Landlocked’, ‘Himalayan’ and ‘UTs/City-States’) to bring about favourable export-promotion policies, ease the regulatory framework to prompt sub national export promotion, create the necessary infrastructure for exports and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness. It promotes competitive federalism and a fair contest among States/UTs.

Also, EPI 2021 brings out three major challenges to India’s export promotion. These are intra and inter regional differences in export infrastructure; weak trade support and growth orientation across states and lack of R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports.

The index was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Dr Rajiv Kumar, in presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Commerce, BVR Subrahmanyam and other dignitaries.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday transferred Moksha Dogra (JKAS), Tehsildar (Hqr), Reasi, and posted her as Collector, Land Acquisition, Public Works (R&B), Jammu, against an available vacancy, with immediate effect.

The transfer and posting was done in the interest of administration, the government said in an order.