Precious Kashmir

Baseer reviews functioning of I&C department

Jammu & Kashmir

23/04/2021

Asks for prioritizing EoDB, e-Commerce, aspirations of entrepreneurs

Jammu: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, Thursday had a detailed review of functioning of Industries and Commerce Department in an officers meeting held here today to work out multi-pronged strategies towards further strengthening of ‘Investment Ecosystem’ in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Director Industries Kashmir and other officers participated online from Kashmir while officers Director Industries and Commerce Jammu, Managing Director J&K Trade Promotion Organisation, Managing Director SIDCO, Managing Director SICOP and other officers from the department attended the meeting here at Jammu.

Advisor exhorted upon the officers to prioritize the aspirations of the entrepreneurs while putting in concerted efforts for making J&K the most investor friendly Union Territory. He said that strenuous efforts have to be made at all levels to encourage and facilitate people who want to join the wagon of industrial sector here adding that land development and allotment policy has given a shot in arm of the industries department and will pave way for a lot of activities in the industrial sector here. He said that everybody is enthusiastic about the new Industrial Policy and directed the officers that single window clearance facility is provided to Industries and entrepreneurs in real sense with a commitment to promote Ease of Doing Business by streamlining different processes and approvals required to establish and operate a business. He also asked them to focus on e-Commerce and creation of avenues besides market availability of products.

Baseer asked the officers to do proper mapping of encroachments that have taken place on Industrial land and take immediate measures in tandem with respective district administrations to retrieve the occupied land.

Regarding revival of sick Industrial units here, Advisor directed the officers to formulate a comprehensive policy for revival and rejuvenation of those units which have the potential. He asked the Directors of both the provinces to prepare detailed Job chart for the General Managers manning the districts and directed them to be proactive at all levels in the chain of command. He directed that the GMs should move and resort to serious kind of interactions, seminars, inspections and make people understand the new policies rolled out for uplifting of Industrial sector by the government, pursue cases of entrepreneurs at different levels and play the role of a facilitator. He said that they should present a fortnightly diary to the Directorate so that we remain connected to the ground and abreast with the issues being faced by the entrepreneurs.

He said that we should be clear and updated with regard to the potential of a particular district which provides the framework for value chain development and alignment of support infrastructure. He directed the officers to identify district wise specific investment sectors in consultation with the various stakeholders of that particular area.

State Govts free to purchase vaccines from manufacturers: Centre

National

Indo Asian News Service

23/04/2021

New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday said that state governments are free to procure vaccine doses from the manufacturers as per the “Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy.”

In a statement the Union Health Ministry said that there have been some media reports suggesting that the Serum Institute of India (SII) has contracted all its production till May 25 to the Centre, and therefore till that date the state governments will not be able to procure vaccines from SII. “These media reports are based on incorrect facts and are without any basis,” the Health Ministry said.

According to the statement, in order to expand and liberalise the countrywide vaccination drive, the Union Government had on April 19 announced the “Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy” which would come into effect from May 1.

“A key feature of the strategy is that the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 per cent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the Government of India (GoI) and would be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to state governments and other than GoI channel. The state governments are free to purchase the vaccine doses from the vaccine manufacturers,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry pointed out that it is very clear that every month out of the total CDL cleared doses available with any vaccine manufacturer, 50 per cent doses would be available for other than GoI channels.

7 FIRs registered, Rs 2 lakh fine recovered from Covid SOP violators in Kashmir: Police

City

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Police has registered seven FIRs, arrested nine persons and an amount of over Rs two lakhs was realized as fine from those who were found violating COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) announced by the administration in the valley.

A police spokesman said special drive against the violators of Covid-19 guidelines/rules continued throughout all the districts of Valley.

“In Baramulla, two coaching centers were found in violation of SOPs/guidelines issued by the district administration and were accordingly closed till further orders. Meanwhile, in Kupwara a large public gathering/congregation was booked for violating the SOPs/guidelines by not maintaining social distancing,” he said.

The spokesman urged community members to cooperate with the Police in containing the spread of Coronavirus by following the SOPs/guidelines/protocols for the safety of the people.

The special drive shall remain continue throughout the districts of Kashmir Valley to strengthen the safety measures.

KU campus to remain closed for 2 days, all exams postponed

City

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Kashmir University’s Main Campus will remain closed for two days (April 23 and April 24, 2021) in view of some Covid positive cases being reported amongst employees from various units of the University.

However, essential services staff of the university health center, sanitation, landscape wing, construction division, proctorial wing etc shall continue to perform their duties with full strength.

Registrar Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir said that employees experiencing symptoms of Coronavirus are advised to get themselves screened for Covid19.

Meanwhile, all the university examinations scheduled on 23-04-2021 (Friday) and 24-04-2021 (Saturday) are hereby postponed.

“Fresh dates of postponed examinations will be notified later on,” Controller of Examinations Prof Irshad A Nawchoo said. (KNO)

Blind murder case solved in Baramulla, victim’s wife among 2 held

Front

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Police on Thursday claimed to have solved a blind murder case by arresting two accused, including the wife of the deceased and her paramour, in north Kashmir district of Baramulla.

A police spokesman said during the intervening night of 8th/9th of March 2021, one person Mohammad Altaf Malik son of Gh Rasool Malik resident of Seriwarpora son in law of Late Abdul Razaq Ganie was found dead near his cowshed at Renji. He was later buried by family members at Renji Graveyard.

“On 22nd of March, brother of the deceased person submitted an application for initiating inquest proceedings as he and his family members were suspicious regarding his death,” he said.

Accordingly as per formal orders of DM Baramulla, the body of the deceased person was exhumed and post mortem was conducted by a penal of doctors from GMC Baramulla. After the receipt of interim Medical Report and the statements of some prime witnesses, the inquest proceedings under section 174 CrPC were converted into FIR vide No. 62/2021 under section 302 IPC of Police Station Pattan. A Special Investigating Team was constituted which was headed by SDPO Pattan.

“ During the course of investigation, the SIT using human and technical intelligence zeroed in on the wife of the deceased person identified as Tasleema Begum and was called for questioning. During questioning, she confessed her involvement in the commission of crime along with another person identified as Ghulam Mohammad Dar son of Mohammad Ramzan Dar resident of Renji. She further disclosed that they had hatched conspiracy to kill the deceased a month before the occurrence as they were in an illegitimate relationship,” the spokesman siad.

The investigating team further learnt that, on 8th of March 2021, duo gave the final touch to their plan and accordingly (wife of deceased person) Tasleema called Ghulam Mohammad during night and they both bludgeoned Mohammad Altaf Malik (now deceased person) to death. Thereafter they took the body and threw it near cowshed to conceal the manner of death and camouflage it as death due to slipping.

“Both the accused persons have been arrested by the police and shifted to Police Station where they remain in custody, besides weapon of offence has also been recovered on their disclosure. Further investigation into the matter is in progress,” added the spokesman.

Constituting STF to dismiss Govt employees without inquiry draconian: Tarigami

City

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Senior CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Thursday said that the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s latest order to constitute a Special Task Force (STF) to dismiss or take other punitive action against the government employees allegedly found involved in ‘anti-national activities without holding any inquiry is ‘arbitrary and draconian’.

In a statement, Tarigami said there are already enough provisions in the law to take action against those employees, who are found violating service rules and there was no need to issue new orders on the account.

“The latest order can serve as a tool to the government and bureaucrats to suppress their subordinates. A sword of uncertainty has been kept on the heads of employees which can also be exploited by their superiors,” he said.

He said dismissing an employee or taking punitive action against him without holding any inquiry is against the principles of justice and basic rights. “An employee is first a citizen and has all the constitutional rights. The need of the hour is to safeguard these constitutional rights,” he said.

“Such measures deepen the anger and discontentment among the ranks of employees. It seems this order has not been given a thought before passing and needs to be reviewed,” he added.

Army to conduct 12-day recruitment rallies in B’pora

Jammu & Kashmir

United News Of India

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Army will conduct 12-day recruitment rallies from May 17 in north Kashmir district of Bandipora for residents of valley, a defence ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Lt Col Emron Musavi said recruitment Rallies will be conducted from May 17, 2021 to May 28, 2021 at Sonarwani, Bandipora in north Kashmir, for eligible candidates of districts Srinagar, Anantnag, Baramulla, Pulwama, Badgam,

Kupwara, Sopian, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Kulgam for all categories.

The categories included Soldier General Duty (GD), Soldier Tradesmen (8th class and 10th class), Soldier Clerk/Store Keeper Technical, Inventory Management (Clk/SKT/IM), Soldier Technical and Soldier Nursing Assistant, Nursing Assistant Veterinary.

He said screening of the eligible candidates volunteering to join Indian Army will be carried out at rally site and as per the schedule intimated through respective e-mail IDs. All prospective candidates should register and apply online between April 2, 2021 to May Ist, 2021 through website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

He said candidates who have already registered themselves in recruiting year 2020-21 are required to register again as the previous notification has been cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Admit Cards for the rally will be sent through registered e-mail from May 2, 2021 to May 15 2021. Candidates will be permitted entry into the rally site only on production of Admit Card in duplicate generated online through the official website www.joinindianarmy.nic.in.

Recruitment is a free service and is conducted in a fair and impartial manner, Musavi said.

“Selection will be made purely on merit basis. Aspirants are advised not to fall prey to any tout or anti-social element,” he added.

Prof Nazir assumes charge as Dean of KU’s faculty of Commerce and Management Studies

City

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Srinagar: Professor Nazir Ahmad on Thursday assumed the charge as Dean Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kashmir.

Prof Nazir has 30 years of teaching, research and administrative experience and has held various important academic and administrative positions in the university, including Head Department Of Commerce, Director Centre for Career Planning and Counselling.

Specialising in Human Resource Management, Organisational Behaviour, Strategic Management, Nazir has several research papers, articles and publications to his credit. He has guided several PhD and M.Phil scholars while presenting his research across universities and research institutions.

He has also been a Professor at Saudi Arabia’s Jazan University and also headed, Department of Business & Economics, Mazoon College, Sultanate of Oman, Muscat.

Nazir has been on the editorial board of various reputed journals and the editor of the faculty journal ‘The Business Review’.

Khan reviews progress on PMDP sports projects

Sports

Precious Kashmir

23/04/2021

Jammu: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan Thursday reviewed the progress made on the sports projects executed by the J&K Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) here. The Advisor assessed the status of each of the project executed by the Corporation and fixed timeline for their completion.

The meeting was attended by Secretary Sports Council, Nuzhat Gul; Executive Director, JKPCC, ND Khawaja; engineers and other officers of the council.

Advisor Khan asked about the possible date of completion of each of the project and facilities to be provided in each of them. He also asked about the kind of infrastructure raised at each location. The Advisor directed for bringing weekly progress reports along with the latest photographs depicting the updated progress made on each of the project site.

Giving further directions the Advisor asked the indenting department to ensure that each of the facility raised by them have all the amenities available so that they could be useful under every circumstances. He asked them to make available the safe drinking water, washrooms, change rooms, parking facilities, approach roads and illumination of surroundings of each of the facility to make them fully functional and safe for players of both genders.

He asked them to make available the coaches of different games at these facilities so that players get benefitted from them. He asked them to create player-friendly facilities everywhere and draw a schedule of games to be played in the ensuing sports season.

The Secretary Sports Council informed the Advisor that there were some 10 multipurpose indoor sports halls under execution by the JKPCC out of them two at Rajouri and Reasi have already been completed and dedicated to public. She gave out that these are completed at an estimatd cost of Rs 4.00 crores each. She said that the ones at Poonch, Pulwama, Kishtwar, Shopian, Doda, Pattan and Ramban would be completed by September this year with many to be dedicated to public in the months to come.

New Variants Behind Covid-19 Surge?

Edit
Oped

Precious Kashmir

22/04/2021

Jammu and Kashmir it seems is now firmly in the ferocious grip of the second Covid-19 wave. 2204 fresh cases were reported in the biggest ever spike in a single day on April 21 while 13 people succumbed to the virus, the highest fatality count thus far this year. Also the government admitted that 28 cases of UK and other new virus strains were reported in Jammu. No new strain or double mutant has been found in Kashmir, the government functionaries said.

So far, the government has blamed inbound travelers and complacency or callousness on part of the people for the rapid spread of the virus. However, with little or negligible samples sent to verify the new strain or mutants, it is unrealistic to rule out the possibility that they are not behind the rapid increase in the cases.

It is an established fact that all viruses mutate. Many mutations are insignificant and disappear. But sometimes a small change in the genetic code can give the virus an advantage in the pressure-cooker environment of natural selection. While there are many unknowns, scientists looking at genetic sequences of the new strain see an unexpectedly large number of changes and some of them concern the spike protein, the device by which the virus attaches to the human cell.

Globally it has been found that the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first found in the United Kingdom, triggers an entirely new wave of infections when it takes hold. This happened with England followed by parts of Europe and the United States (US). The US saw an unbridled two-lakh-plus new cases daily for one and a half months—December-mid-January— and almost six lakh deaths to date.

Another variant—B.1.617—has been found in India. The Western scientists spotted a tell-tale drift in genome sequences submitted from India to the global GISAID repository, the variant was popping up more frequently in samples. There are fears that it is either B.1.617 or B.1.1.7 or both or new variants which are fuelling the present wave in India. In Jammu and Kashmir context, there is a need to find if the variants are spreading and leading to the rapid increase in the cases. As has been called for by a doctors’ body recently, there is need for genetic testing of COVID-19 positive samples which will pick up mutants and consequently help formulate appropriate and effective health policy that would help prevent and control their spread in the community.

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