Transparent processes in urban governance must for higher economic growth: LG

Srinagar: Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Tuesday singed Memoranda of Understanding with Praja Foundation and Azim Premji Foundation for making Urban Governance more effective and transforming primary school education in Srinagar city.

In the presence of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, the MoUs were signed by Athar Aamir Khan, Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Commissioner; Bijoy Shankar Das, Leader – North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir at Azim Premji University and Milind Mhaske, Director Praja Foundation

The Lt Governor said that the MoU between SMC & Praja foundation aims to empower citizen participation through enhanced e-Governance system in Srinagar & capacity building programmes for municipal councilors & administration.

Relentless efforts for good urban governance and sustainability in cities to be further strengthened with cooperation of Praja Foundation, observed the Lt Governor.

Transparent and participatory processes in urban governance are important for tapping the vast potential, vitality of cities and higher economic growth.  Reforms in urban governance will improve urban infrastructure, urban services to poor and help the cities to build on their inherent capacities, the Lt Governor added.

The Lt Governor underlined the need to create smart solutions, smart platforms to form a link between the public and policies to make the process of rapid change a reflection of the needs & aspirations of the people and develop a new self-understanding.

Reforms introduced by the government in urban governance aim to provide much-needed human & financial resources for improving basic services like drinking water, health care, sanitation, housing and better quality of living in the cities, the Lt Governor said.

There is going to be a massive urban transformation in the cities in the coming future, which will improve the standard of living and will also attract new capital investment, he added.

Today, we have to overcome few challenges while we are developing our cities into smart ones.  We must formulate policies & programs to eliminate social inequality; extend benefits of development to all sections of the society; eliminate the role of multiple agencies; strengthen Municipal Corporations and accelerate local economic development to improve the quality of life in the cities, observed the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor asked the officials of the Municipal Corporation and other stakeholders to understand these challenges and work accordingly.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have taken a huge leap towards strengthening urban governance by establishing transparent, accountable, participative and corruption-free system. It is our collective responsibility to provide basic minimum facilities, means of livelihood and better services to the people, the Lt Governor further added.

Quoting Swami Vivekananda, the Lt Governor said that the only thing that needs to be done to serve the people is to educate them so that they can develop their personality.

The partnership with Azim Premji University will strive towards improving the education scenario in all SMC’s Schools and continuous professional development of teachers and administrative leadership, added the Lt Governor.

Junaid Azim Mattu, Mayor, Srinagar Municipal Corporation said that the collaboration of SMC with Azim Premji Foundation and Praja Foundation will transform urban governance and primary education in Srinagar.

Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Charu Sinha, IG CRPF; Mohammad Aijaz, DC Srinagar; Abdul Jabbar, DIG, SKR; Tassaduq Hussain Mir, Director School Education, Kashmir; ULB representatives, members of Praja Foundation and Azim Premji Foundation, besides other senior officers attended the MoU signing ceremony at SKICC.

293 students share first 10 positions in 4 streams

Srinagar: Girls dominated overall percentage as well as top positions in all four streams as 75 percent students passed 12th class examinations, the results of which were declared by the J&K Board of School Education on Tuesday.

In all 54075 out of 72180 students who appeared in the examination have been declared successful, a top J&K BOSE official said.

Among the total students who appeared included 37301 boys and 34879 girls. Of these, 26971 boys and 27104 girls passed the examinations.  “72 percent boys and 78 percent girls passed the examination,” the official said.

In all 293 students have secured top ten positions in all fours streams—Science, Commerce, Arts and Home Science and most of them have been bagged by the girls.

The results of the examinations held last year amid covid-19 pandemic were declared by the Board this evening. However, this year’s result is less by over 5 percent than previous area.

The first 10 positions in Science stream were shared by 248 students. In Commerce, the first 10 positions were shared by 33 students. 61 students shared the first 10 positions in Arts stream. In Home Science, 12 students shared the first 10 positions, the officials said.

In science stream, the first positions was bagged by Arusa Parvaiz of Kashmir Harvard Educational Institute Naseem Bagh Srinagar by securing 499 (99.8 percent) marks out of 500. Simrah Hafeez of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Soura Srinagar got second position by securing 498 (99.6%) while five students got 497 marks (99.4%) to bag third position. They include Faiza Zahoor Tantry (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Raj Bagh, Sgr), Hadiya Rashid (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh) Sakib Bashir Lone(st. Joseph ‘s hr. Sec. School, Baramulla) Shah Ribka(Dream Land Hr. Sec. Instt, Ganderbal) and Zainab Muneer(islamia Hr.Sec. School, Rajouri Kadal, Sgr.)

In commerce stream Tabinda Jan of Kashmir Harvard Edu Instt Naseem Bagh Sgr bagged first position by securing 497 marks (99.4%) while two students—Rutba Bashir (Govt Girls Hr.Sec School, Amira Kadal) and Saliq Ashraf Pushoo(Govt. Boys Hr.Sec.School, Anantnag ) bagged second position by achieving (99%) and third was shared by four students—Bareen Altaf (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Nawa Kadal, Sgr), Haliya Anees (Govt. Girls Hr.Sec.School, Budgam ), Iqra Bashir Shah (Green Valley Hss Ellahi Bagh Srinagar) and Numan Javaid (Govt M. P. M.L Hr. Sec. School, Baghi Delawar Khan) by scoring 98.8 percent marks.

In Home Science, Sahila Nabi (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh Sgr) bagged first position by scoring 495 mar (99%), Masrat Mushtaq (Govt. Girls hr. Sec. School, Baramulla) with 493 marks (98.6%) got second position while Bisma Yousuf (Govt. Girls Hr. Sec. School, Baramulla) got third position with 492 (98.4%) marks.

In Arts Stream, three students— Adeebah Muzamil (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh ), Hafsa Yousuf (Govt. Girls hr. Sec School, Verinag) and Suhail Ahmad Dar (govt. Boys hr. Sec. School, Pulwama) got first position by achieving 496 (99.2%) marks.

Two students—Afeefah Bashir Wani (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Kothibagh) and Sheema Yousuf (Govt. Hr. Sec. School, Kadipora, Anantnag ) got second position with 495 (99.0%) marks while four students—Bazlah Firdous(Green Valley HSS Ellahi Bagh Srinagar), Ridda Qadri (Govt.Girls Hr.Sec.School, Soura, Sgr), Saddaf Farooq (Al Banat Educational Institute Baba Darya- Ud-Din Ganderbal) and Sadiqa Rehman (Green Valley HSS Ellahi Bagh Srinagar) got third position by scoring 494 (98.8%) marks.

Of the total students, 23573 got distinction while 20716, 9277 and 509 secured first, second and third divisions respectively, the official said. Also 32 out of 34 students at Welfare Educational Institute (Orphanage)  Bemina passed the examination. (GNS)

New Delhi: The new Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022 released by the Centre have included a stringent provision under which a journalist can lose government accreditation if the person “acts in a manner which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement of an offence”.

The new accreditation guidelines announced by the Press Information Bureau—the official communication arm of the central government—has also opened up government accreditation for web journalists for the first time, even as news aggregators will remain out of the ambit.

A senior government official said that the entire process of accreditation has been streamlined, grey zones have been removed, rules have full clarity and there is no scope for interpretation or fudging.

“The new rules are reformative. They are focused on professional work. Digital media has been given full recognition which was earlier lacking. For the first time in history foreign media will get accreditation for full term of J Visa,” the official said.

The official also pointed out that a journalist was earlier arrested for spying for China but his accreditation could not be cancelled as there was no provision.

“In several cases of sexual and other cognisable offences no action could be taken earlier,” the official said, explaining the new provisions. Also, for the first time Accreditation Rules specifically state ‘working journalist’ while till now they were referred to as ‘representatives’, the official said.

This is about a year after it came up with new rules to regulate the online media and OTT platforms and about a year-and-a-half after the government agreed on including digital and electronic media journalists under the definition of ‘Working Journalist’.

The new policy has been in the works for the last many months. Both the provisions did not feature in the last media accreditation policy of the government, which was brought in 2013, and were introduced for the first time under the new accreditation policy drafted by the Information and Broadcasting ministry.

The old policy just stated that the media accreditation cards would be withdrawn once the conditions on which it was issued would cease to exist and could be withdrawn or suspended in the instance of a misuse.

The new policy also lists out other instances in which a journalist’s accreditation can be suspended. This includes person charged with a “serious cognisable offence”, one who uses the accreditation cards for non-journalistic activities, leaves the organisation on whose behalf the person was accredited or the organisation ceases to exist.

It also categorically points out that the accredited media person will not use the words “Accredited to the Government of India” on public or social media profile, visiting cards, letterheads or any other published work.

A PIB accreditation card provides access to journalists inside government buildings within Delhi-NCR and important government events. Press accreditation cards are issued by the respective state governments to journalists in other states.

Around 3,000 press accreditation cards are issued every year by the PIB. Railway fare concessions and a Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) card are other benefits that come with a PIB accreditation card.

For accreditation of journalists in digital media, the applicants will have to report the website’s average monthly unique visitor count of the last six months certified by its CAG-approved/empanelled auditors. One digital media journalist will be eligible for accreditation from news websites with 10 to 50 lakh unique visitors. Four journalists can get accredited from news websites with over a crore unique visitors a month.

The new policy has set up fixed quotas for journalists working in newspapers, magazines and TV news channels. Foreign news media working journalists will be issued PIB cards till the validity of their J visa. (Agencies)

‘15k to be installed in Feb 2022’

By: Owais Gul

Srinagar: Under the much-hyped smart metering project, the Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) is all set to install almost 58,000 smart meters in the first phase across Srinagar.

It has been learnt that 15000 smart meters will be installed in Srinagar in the ongoing month (February).

Sources within the department said that over 11400 smart meters have already been installed in Srinagar, adding that 57,750 smart meters will be installed across Srinagar in the first phase.

They said that officials concerned have been directed by the department as well as the administration to speed up the pace of installation and ensure that the phase-I target is achieved at a shortest possible time.

The card erected in the smart meter will help in providing rating of the electricity load by the consumers, the officials said, adding that “the consumer will be able to identify when and how the electricity was used. It will make the consumer aware about the use of electricity and he will be able to get the details through the mobile application, which can be installed by the consumers.”

Besides, the officials said that the smart meters are set to reduce human efforts and give relief to linemen who otherwise have to climb poles to record power usage of consumers.

On complaints about resistance by the consumers, the officials said that police and administration has already been directed by the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir P K Pole to tackle resistance by any person in the process of installation of smart meters amicably. Strict action will be taken against those who will try to create hindrances or damages public property, the officials said. (KNO)

By: Nadeem Nadu

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir reported 771 fresh covid-19 cases while seven persons succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, officials said on Tuesday.

Regarding the fresh cases, the officials said that 408 were reported from Jammu Division and 363 from Kashmir Valley, taking the overall count to 448105.

Five of the fresh deaths due to the virus were from Jammu Division and two from Kashmir Valley, taking the toll to 4728. 2316 of the deaths so far has been reported from Jammu and 2412 in Kashmir Valley.

Giving district wise details, they said, Srinagar reported 172 cases, Baramulla 22, Budgam 62, Pulwama 12, Kupwara 20, Anantnag 24, Bandipora 4, Ganderbal 28, Kulgam 16, Shopian 3, Jammu 238, Udhampur 20, Rajouri 18, Doda 58, Kathua 18, Samba 5, Kishtwar 4, Poonch 4, Ramban 36 and Reasi 7.

A number of the cases were confirmed from GMC Anantnag and include male (38) from Pampore, male (45) from SK Colony Ang, male (58) from Pulwama, male (50) from Nanil Ang, two males (26, 60) from Anantnag, female (20) from Kokagund Verinag, female (55) from Nowgam Verinag, male (19) from Kapran Verinag, female (40) from Wachkoo Mohalla, male (28) from Heerpora, male (42) from Keegam, male (40) from Bachkuchan, male (28) from Mazhama, male (35) from Gatipora, male (45) from Reban, two females (13, 45) from Kashiwa, female (29) from Dooru, male (70) and female (25) from Hengipora Kapran, male (50) from Verinag, female (23) from Omoh Verinag, female (22) from Rein Chowgund, male (33) from Jaibhal DH Pora, male (30) from Nillow Kulgam, male (60) from Gansargam Kulgam, male (55) from Karwatt Kulgam, male (60) from Khandipora Kulgam, male (32) from Pombay Kulgam.

Besides, they said, 3330 Covid-19 patients recovered during the time— 1297 from Jammu Division and 2033 from Kashmir. So far 431019 people have recovered, leaving the active case tally at 12358—4074 in Jammu and 8284 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 56021 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered during the time in J&K. (GNS)