By: Jahangeer Ganaie

Srinagar: The security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved substantially and there has been significant decline in militancy related incidents and infiltration, Ministry of Home affairs said on Tuesday.

Minister of State in the MHA NityanandRai while replying to a question of Parliamentarian Kunwar Danish Ali said that the Government has instituted a robust security and intelligence grid along with proactive operations against militants.

He said that due to robust security and intelligence grid, the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has improved substantially and there has been a significant decline in militant incidents and infiltration of militants from across the border.

He said that there is a decrease in the number of infiltration from 417 in 2018, 138 in 2019, and 51 in 2020 to 34 in 2021

He further added the militancy related incidents are on decline as well as there were 417 militancy related incidents in 2018, 255 in 2019 and 244 in 2020 and 229 in 2021.

He further added that 257 militants were killed in 2018, 157 in 2019, 221 in 2020 and 180 in 2021.

He further added that government regularly reviews the security situation along the LoC and takes precautionary measure for thwarting any threat. (KNO)

Jammu: Principal Secretary, Higher Education & Information Department, RohitKansal Tuesday launched the Centre for Essential Skills (CES) here at IIT Jammu.

Speaking on the occasion Kansal reiterated that the J&K Government is “committed to supporting institutions like the IIT Jammu and others who are willing to take efforts in improving employability of our youth.”

While complimenting the IIT on their initiative in establishing a Centre for Essential Skills, he hoped that the Centre would offer necessary not just life-skill courses but also courses in personal finance, communication and such other needs. He also complimented the IIT for making the resources of the Centre open not just to the students of the Institute but to all other institutions of the UT as well.

Referring to studies by Mckinsey and others, Kansal said that in the new world of works, soft skills like communication, empathy and complex decision making are increasingly gaining currency. He maintained that with the coming of mechanization and automation the lower order, repetitive, and lower cognitive jobs are on decline. He stated that higher order cognitive skills along with soft skills are the benchmarks for job aspirants. He emphasized that developing life skills outside of an academic curriculum will also improve the entrepreneurial potential of the youth which will further strengthen our cause of nation-building.

The Chairman of Board of Governors, ShriSharad Kumar Saraf who was also present on the occasion felicitated the founding Deans of the institute whose immense contribution towards the development of this institution in its nascent years was applauded by him. Professor S.N. Singh, Shiban K. Koul, Anurag Sharma, K.S. Rao, S.K. Gupta, Dinesh K. Pandya, and DeveshJinwala were the ones who were felicitated.

The Director of the IIT, Manoj Gaur said that the Centre for Essential Skills (CES) is a digital resource, which will offer several courses on its portal that will be open for anyone to apply. Elucidating further he said that the portal will be live in a week’s time & details will be found on IIT Jammu’s official website.  The CES is running 2 minor certification programmes for non-IIT Jammu students namely, Transportation Engineering and Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering. CES is set to open 9 more courses in the next few days, that will be open for all to apply.

Dr AmitashOjha, Head of Department further elaborated that the CES will offer courses across disciplines as well as open-ended (generic) courses that are suitable for the students. Beyond technological courses, some of the courses will promote Indian languages, culture awareness, Indian arts, music and craft. These courses will be taken up by outstanding local artists, writers, and craft persons.  The course may be taught bilingually with the use of mother tongue where ever possible. Some of the technological cutting-edge areas in which courses will be floated are Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3-D Machining, Big Data Analysis, and Machine Learning, in addition to Genomic Studies, Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, and Clean Energy with important applications to health, environment, and sustainable living. All courses will be designed by the experts of the domain keeping in mind the value addition to student knowledge. There will be a bunch of courses that will teach essential skills. The nature of the course and its content will decide the credit associated with a course, it could be a 0.5 credit course or a 3 credit course

The institute also complimented its student achievers who participated in different competitions around the globe and brought laurels for IIT Jammu in the year 2021-22. On the occasion Shubham Gaur, a final year B.tech student was conferred with IIT Jammu’s first ever “Institutional Service award” for his exemplary service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides faculty members large number of students and parents of several honoured students were present on this occasion.

One way traffic to ply from Sgr on odd days: Div Com

Srinagar: One way traffic to ply on Srinagar-Leh National Highway from March 25 said Divisional Commissioner (Div Com) Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole while co-chairing a meeting with Divisional Commissioner Ladakh, SaugatBiswas regarding opening of Srinagar-Leh National Highway.

The meeting was attended by DC Ganderbal; DC Kargil; Chief Engineers of R&B, MED, BEACON & VIJAYAK; Regional Transport Officer, Kashmir; SSP Kargil, SSP Ganderbal, SSP Traffic Ladakh, DSP Traffic Rural Kashmir and Executive Director NHIDCL.

The meeting decided to open Srinagar-Leh National Highway for traffic from March 25 with movement of vehicles from Srinagar to Leh on the same day.

The meeting further decided that only light vehicles shall ply initially on the highway on the pattern of odd-even basis.

On the occasion, Div Com Kashmir said that one way traffic from Srinagar to Leh shall ply on odd days while from Leh to Srinagar traffic will ply on even days.

He added that from next week there shall be no movement of transport on Fridays.

The cut off time for vehicles from Kashmir side shall remain 6 am at Sonmarg, Ganderbal side and 8:30 am from Kargil Side at Meenamarg.

The meeting further decided to establish health check up centers, establishment of joint control room, traffic check posts, positioning of recovery vans, operation of weight bridges to restrict overloading of vehicles besides allow movement of only antiskid chained vehicles.

Regarding any advisory of weather and avalanche, concerned officers were asked to share information on a daily basis.

Srinagar: In a major setback to Congress, Vikramaditya Singh, son of a senior congress leader Karan Singh on Tuesday resigned from the party.

“I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress [INC] with immediate effect, “Vikramaditya wrote in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

“It is my belief that the INC is unable to realize and reflect the sentiments and aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir, ” he further wrote.

It is pertinent to mention here that Vikramadiyta had contested 2019 Parliament elections against Jitendra Singh on Congress ticket.(KNO)

By: Nadeem Nadu

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir reported seven fresh Covid-19 cases while there was no death due to the virus in the last 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.

They said two of the fresh cases were reported from Jammu Division and five from Kashmir Valley, taking the overall tally to 453569.

Giving district wise details, the officials said that Srinagar reported 4 cases, Baramulla 1, Budgam 0, Pulwama 0, Kupwara 0, Anantnag 0, Bandipora 0, Ganderbal 0, Shopian 0, Jammu 2, and remaining nine districts in the Jammu division had no fresh case.

There was no death reported in the last 24 hours, they said. So far 4750 persons have succumbed to the virus—2327 in Jammu and 2423 in Kashmir.

Besides, they said, 19 Covid-19 patients—13 from Jammu and 6 from Valley— recovered during the time. So far 448720 people have recovered, leaving the active case tally at 99— 29 in Jammu and 70 in Kashmir.

They said there was no new confirmed case of mucormycosis (black fungus) reported today. So far 51 black fungus cases have been confirmed in J&K, the officials said. They also informed that 13789 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered during the time in J&K. (GNS)