Srinagar: A police inspector with Anti Corruption Bureau, and a couple were among eight persons injured in a grenade blast amid heightened security arrangements on the eve of January 26 at Hari Singh High Street area of Central Kashmir’s Srinagar district on Tuesday, officials said.

They said the militants targeted a joint team of police and CRPF. However the grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside, causing splinter injuries to eight persons including a couple Tanveera (38) and her husband Muhammad Shafi Bhat (43) of Chattabal Srinagar. The other injured include police inspector, working with ACB identified as Tanveer Hussain (40), Asmat (40) wife of Zahoor Ahmad of Charar-e-Sharief Budgam, Nusrat (48) wife of Dr Tazeem of Nawab Bazar Srinagar, Zahoor Ahmad Lone (30) son of Ghulam Rasool of Khaniyar, Imtiyaz Ahmad (25) son of Abdul Gafar Wani of Lal Chowk and Gayas-u-din (35) son of Zain-ul-Aabudin of Assam.

All of them were shifted nearby SMHS hospital and their condition is stable, Dr Kawaljeet Singh said.

A top Police officer confirmed the blast and said that whole area has been cordoned off to nab the attackers, they said. He said that a case has been registered and further investigations are underway.

“At about 1525 hours, unknown (militants) hurled a grenade upon a Police vehicle near Hari Singh High Street, Srinagar. In this incident, however few civilians sustained minor splinter injuries, besides causing minor damage to the police vehicle,” a police spokesperson said in a statement. “All the injured were immediately shifted to nearby hospital, where from they have been discharged after required treatment.”

Senior Police officers immediately reached at the spot, he said.

“Police has registered a case in this regard under relevant sections of law and investigation is in progress. Officers continue to work to establish the full circumstances of this (incident)”.

Soon after the attack, police queued up pedestrians and subjected them to frisking, reports said. (GNS)

Srinagar: Police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested the person involved in grenade attack at Hari Singh High Street here.

“Police  arrested grenade thrower who was involved in today’s incident at Hari Singh High Street Srinagar in which a few civilians and one police personnel got injured,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.

“Investigation is going on,” he added.

In another tweet, the IGP identified him as “chronic stone pelter Aijaz Wani son of Fayaz Wani of Fatehkadal, Srinagar”. The IGP said investigations have revealed that Wani threw the grenade at the behest of militants.

By: Nadeem Nadu

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir reported the biggest ever daily spike of 6570 cases while 14 persons succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours which is the highest single-day toll of the present third wave, officials said on Tuesday.

1555 of the fresh cases were reported from Jammu Division and 5015 from Kashmir, taking the overall tally to 409166, the officials said.

Regarding the deaths, they said, seven each were reported from Jammu division and Kashmir Valley respectively. So far 4627 people have died due to the virus—2260 in Jammu division and 2367 in Kashmir Valley.

On Saturday last, the J&K recorded previous highest daily case count of 6568 since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. The count was breached by two cases today.

Giving district wise details, the officials said that Srinagar reported 1450 cases, Baramulla 396, Budgam 971, Pulwama 107, Kupwara 395, Anantnag 416, Bandipora 243, Ganderbal 295, Kulgam 697, Shopian 45, Jammu 849, Udhampur 121, Rajouri 100, Doda 114, Kathua 81, Samba 112, Kishtwar 12, Poonch 82, Ramban 41 and Reasi 43.

There has been surge in covid-19 cases in J&K since the start of the New Year. On January 1, J&K reported 169 cases, 165 cases on January 2, 178 on January 3, 199 on January 4, 418 on January 5, 349 on January 6, 542 on January 7, 655 on January 8, 687 on January 9, 706 on January 10, 1148 on January 11, 1695 on January 12, 1966 on January 13, 2456 on January 14, 3251 on January 15, 3499 on January 16, 2817 on January 17, 4651 on January 18 and 5818 on January 19 and 5992 on January 20, 5720 on January 21 and 6253 on January 22 and 5394 on January 24.

A number of these cases were confirmed at diagnostic laboratories of GMC Srinagar and include male (32) from Brain nishat, male (70) from Anantnag, female (85) from Sgr, male (70) from Pulwama, male (32) from Sanatnagar, female (32) from Sanatnagar, female (80) from Naseemabagh, female (26) from Hostel, male (58) from Rawalpora, male (28) from Rawalpora, male (70) from Pulwama, male (31) from Baramulla, male (47) from Sgr, female (30) from Baramulla, male (54) from Sgr, male (30) from Shopian, male (70) from Sgr, female (28) from Sgr, male (23) from Sgr, female (53) from Sgr, female (40) from Budgam,female (74) from Sgr, male (33) from SMHS Hospital, male (30) from Pulwama, male (28) from Sgr, female (26) from Bandipora, female (90) from Budgam, male (65) from Ganderbal, male (17 months) from Budgam, female (27) from Sgr, male (45) from Nishat, male (48) from Sgr, male (67) from Sgr, female (60) from Bemina, female (60) from Baramulla, female (85) from Sgr, male (65) from Sgr, female (50) from Sgr, female (75) from Sgr, male (36) from Sgr, female (32) from Sgr, male (50) from SMHS, female (50) from Bandipora, male (56) from Sgr and male (34) from  Sgr.

Besides, they said, 3789 Covid-19 patients recovered during the time—1278 from Jammu Division and 2511 from Kashmir. So far 357163 people have recovered, leaving active case tally at 47376—13812 in Jammu and 33564 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 36, 620 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered during the time in J&K. (GNS)

New Delhi: Saying frequent elections hamper the country’s progress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged the people, academics, experts and intellectuals to discuss the idea of ‘One nation, One election”.

Modi made the observation while interacting with BJP workers from Gujarat when he expressed concern over low voter turnout in successive elections.

“In the 1951 general elections, only 45 per cent eligible population exercised their franchise. In 2019, the turnout was 67 per cent. Everyone … should spare a thought about the low voting percentage in the elections,” he said.

Citing low voter turnout in urban areas, he said: “People in these areas talk about elections on social media but the percentage of polling remains low. Such a situation should change in a vibrant democratic country.”

On the occasion of National Voters Day, Modi urged booth level workers to ensure 75 per cent polling in any election by encouraging people to vote.

“For us, election is a festival of democracy. We should not fight elections only to come to power but fulfill the expectation of the people,” he said. The Prime Minister lauded the Election Commission.

“From 1950 till today, it has increased its dignity by conducting free and fair elections.India is among those countries where the EC can … transfer officials. In many democratic countries, the election panel does not have such power.” (UNI)

‘Ensure training, placement of 60000 youth under HIMAYAT during next FY’

Jammu: Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta Tuesday directed the Rural Development department to ensure training and placement of 60000 unemployed youth under HIMAYAT during the next fiscal year.

He asked RDD to identify 20 highly educated youth in each Panchayat. Assistance of DDCs and PRIs may be taken.

He said the trainings and consequent job placement of 60000 youth under HIMAYAT and other self employment initiatives launched by the Government will further the Government’s objective of driving down the unemployment in J&K to below 5 %.

Dr Mehta made this observation while reviewing the HIMAYAT scheme in a meeting attended by Administrative Secretary, RDD and COO, HIMAYAT.

The Chief Secretary said as the Scheme will close on 31st March, 2023, the department should target short term skill based courses spanning 3- 9 months.

Earlier, Commissioner Secretary, RDD, Mandeep Kour in her presentation informed that around 19000 youth have been trained while around 4000 youth have been given job placements up until now since the inception of the Scheme.

She said most of the trainees have received training in sectors/areas like healthcare, IT-TES, retail, telecom, tourism & hospitality etc. while emphasizing that there is also a need to arrange for trainings in domains like carpentry, masonry, plumbing etc in concert with ITIs as there is general shortage of technicians in these trades in the UT.

It was further informed that the plan for training and placing 60000 youth during the next financial year will be finalized in consultation with existing PIAs by end of February 2023.

She said that the department will engage with BRO to ascertain their requirement of skilled, semi skilled work force and based on their requirements, training courses will be got customized/tailor made to train/ equip the youth for jobs in BRO.

The Chief Secretary directed the department to ensure that trainings under HIMAYAT are arranged in sectors like hospitality, industries, housing &urban development, tourism, medical labs, water testing labs in Jal Shakti department etc, as there is going to be increased demand in these sectors due to investment in industries, heightened infrastructure development in these sectors and increased tourist activity in J&K.

Dr Mehta advised the department to consult with the concerned authorities in the States which have excelled in the implementation of HIMAYAT like AP, TN and Orissa as well as the officials in the Ministry of Rural Development Department to further improve the implementation of the Scheme in J&K.

While directing the department to ensure that it does not engage such PIAs/TSAs as have failed to file reports with the Government or have not maintained proper accounts or don’t have their own websites and have failed to monitor/conduct regular inspections, the Chief Secretary said only those PIAs which have the required capacity to deliver on mandate and which have neither been blacklisted by GoI nor are involved in any case in ACB should be engaged for training/placement of the identified youth.

Dr Mehta advised the department to put in place a proper institutional mechanism for regular monitoring of the implementation of the HIMAYAT Scheme.

Jammu: The DARPG and Government of Jammu & Kashmir will collaborate on (a) creation of an online portal for monitoring progress in 58 District Good Governance Index Indicators, (b) adoption of e-HRMS in the Jammu Secretariat and Srinagar Secretariat and (c) monitor online the citizen satisfaction in 150 e-Services through Jammu & Kashmir e-Services Delivery Assessment framework.

As a follow-up to the launch of the District Good Governance Index on January 22, 2022 by the Union Minister for Home & Cooperation, Amit Shah, in the august presence of Minister of State for PMO, Personnel, PG and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh and the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Manoj Sinha at Convention Centre Jammu on January 22, 2022, the roadmap for three key good governance initiatives was drawn up in a meeting between Secretary DARPG V.Srinivas and Chief Secretary Government of Jammu & Kashmir Arun Kumar Mehta held on January 25, 2022.

The Jammu & Kashmir District Good Governance Index represents Next Generation Administrative Reform in Benchmarking Governance at District level. It was prepared after extensive stakeholder consultations.

The District Good Governance Index of Jammu & Kashmir helps identify the impact of various governance interventions at district level and provides a futuristic roadmap for improving district level governance with targeted interventions. To further strengthen the Good Governance model of Jammu & Kashmir, the 58 indicators of the District Good Governance Index would be monitored on a dedicated portal on and evaluated by an external agency the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad. The data collation formats would be decided by Government of Jammu & Kashmir and an online monitoring dashboard would be developed by NIC. This exercise is expected to be completed by mid-February 2022.

The Jammu Secretariat and the Srinagar Secretariat have been transformed into a paperless Secretariats, with the adoption of e-Office version 7.0. Taking this initiative forward, it was decided that e-HRMS software for digitalization of all employee records would be adopted by the Government of Jammu & Kashmir. The e-HRMS software provides for digitalization of employee service books, leave and travel records of employees, GPF, Gratuity and Pension benefits into the e-Office system. A project proposal for adoption e-HRMS would be prepared by Government of Jammu & Kashmir in collaboration with DARPG.

The Government of Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed a significant transformation in the Ease of Doing Business. One hundred and fifty e-Services are provided through digital platforms. The quality of the 150 e-Services and citizen satisfaction will be benchmarked by the Jammu & Kashmir e-Services Delivery Assessment with the objective to improve the ease of life of the common citizen, improve efficiency and effectiveness of governance and administration. Under this exercise the first set of data sets would be analyzed by February 2022.

The next meeting between Secretary DARPG V.Srinivas and Chief Secretary Government of Jammu & Kashmir Arun Kumar Mehta would be held on February 7, 2022.

Jammu: 14 business plans have been shortlisted in a pitch deck competition conducted by IIT Jammu. These would be evaluated to yield the final list of projects. Besides, the entire process would be enlarged and a J&K wide start up contest would be organized jointly by the Higher Education Department and the IIT Jammu.

This was revealed at a meeting held at IIT in order to shortlist the best business plans which were received in the first round of the pitch deck competition organized by IIT Jammu.

The Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Rohit Kansal, while complimenting the efforts of the institute in organizing the competition also assured that the Higher Education department would support and facilitate a larger, J&K wide version of the event which would be organized shortly by the IIT. The Director IIT, Dr Manoj Singh Gaur assured that the IIT would support budding entrepreneurs as well various degree colleges of J&K on a hub and spoke model.

Earlier, the faculty and students of the IIT gave a presentation on the in-house Learning Management System (LMS) developed by the students of this Institute. The model, developed as a start up by the students has unique and desirable features such as student feedback, customised assignments submission facility, attendance checking, assessment, administrative monitoring and automatic grading available in it.

The presenters also divulged that the platform has different interfaces for students and teachers modelled as per the requirements of each. It was revealed that quiz sessions and automatic marking of the same could also be accomplished using this system besides being safe, trustworthy and effective tool with features appreciated by both the students and teachers as well. It was also said that the platform could well be useful even after the start of offline classes for better management and monitoring purpose.

The Principal Secretary exhorted the Degree Colleges to expeditiously introduce appropriate systems in their colleges, more so in the light of the prevailing COVID situation when most classes were being held online. It may be mentioned that currently, only a few colleges are making use of the LMS as an effective tool. While the Islamia College, Srinagar  which is an autonomous institute has an effective automated system, many other colleges are working towards developing similar LMS and ERP solutions for better monitoring, accountability and improving the quality of performance.

The meeting was attended by Director of the IIT, DrManoj Singh Gaur, Sanjay Dahiya, Registrar, IIT Jammu; Prof Yasmeen Ashai, Director Colleges; Principals of various degree colleges besides faculty and students of the IIT.

By: Tasaduq Hussain

Srinagar: Stating that the efforts have always been to curb and stop the cycle of violence in the valley, Army’s Chinar Corps commander Tuesday said that the attempts are already on to ensure the society is educated while security forces are swiftly eliminating the militants in Kashmir.

Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar Corps commander Lt. General Devendra Pratap Pandey made these remarks Tuesday on the sidelines of an MoU signing event with Indrani Balan Foundation for financial sustainability of AGS’s in Kashmir.

He said that his focus has been to curb the cycle of violence in Kashmir valley.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the event, Pandey said that a series of efforts including making of short movies to educate people of Kashmir are on to ensure that youth don’t pick up arms and rather prefer to become professional, do good for the society and county apart from being a good citizen.

“We are releasing short movies to educate the Kashmiri society and aware them of what is going wrong in grooming their children,” the GoC said.

Pandey said that, “my focus has been basically to ensure that the cycle of violence is curbed.”

“But at the same time we are eliminating militants or giving them chance to surrender,” he said.

The Corps commander said that the more important pillar was to educate the society of the scourge of militancy in which our young men don’t pick up weapons and join the militancy ranks thereafter being killed and not being called good citizens of the society.

Talking about the released short movie, the GoC said that it has been highlighted that no son wants his son to get killed and become a militant. “Every mother wants her children to grow up and be a good professional. A good citizen of the country. Do good for society,” the Corps commander said.

About the singing of the MoU, the GoC said that the investment will enable us to run our Army Goodwill schools in the Kashmir valley much better in terms of faculty and teaching. (KNO)