Administrative Council decisions

Jammu:  To adopt best practices aimed at improving the efficiency in disposal of official business in-line with the spirit of Digital India, the Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha approved the adoption of e-Office system in all administrative departments of Civil Secretariat and Move Offices outside Civil Secretariat.

The time-bound roll out of e-office in Government Offices at an estimated cost of Rs. 67.62 crore will be a step towards the introduction of paperless office, besides, saving on the cost of shifting official records twice a year between both the Secretariats at Jammu and Srinagar and avoiding wear and tear as well as the loss of official records during transportation. Further, the establishment of DR site outside J&K will ensure safe custody and retrieval of data in the events of unforeseen disasters.

The shift to e-Office will bring a considerable improvement in the pace of disposal of official business and establish accountability through monitorable statistics of file movement, thereby improving public service delivery.

The project entails setting up wired LAN for Civil Secretariat, Jammu and Srinagar for providing high speed and uninterrupted connectivity, setting up of dedicated 2 Gbps internet lease line for both Secretariats for providing 100% uptime, setting up of MPLS network for e-Office to create a secure Wide Area Network (WAN), providing gap infrastructure, setting up of dedicated near data centre in Srinagar to provide zero downtime experience to e-Office users in Srinagar in the rare event of loss of connectivity, and handholding and training of officers/officials.

Jammu:  The Administrative Council under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha approved the implementation of high-density plantation scheme in the horticulture sector with the support of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).

The step will go a long way in enhancing the quality and quantity of horticulture produce and doubling the farmer’s income.

The farmer-centric scheme will be implemented for apple, walnut, almond, cherry, litchi, and olive among others over an estimated area of 5500 hectares of suitable agro-climatic zones for 6 years with effect from March 2021 to March 2026.

The new high-density plantation scheme has provisions to provide 50% subsidy to orchardists for the establishment of high-density orchards accompanied by a loan facility for raising 40% of remaining capital. The scheme will also provide subsidies to the growers on account of expenditure related to micro-irrigation, plant material, and anti-hail nets. Under the scheme, preference will be given to farmers with landholdings of less than 4 kanal.

The high-density plantations are expected to make horticulture profitable through superior yields, higher yields per hectare, early harvest, and introduction of insect and pest resistance varieties thereby saving the expenditure on disease and pest control.

The scheme will be implemented with the support of NAFED which will provide end to end support to the growers and will assess the suitability of available land for undertaking high-density plantation.

NAFED will also install a high-tech laboratory for certification of the horticulture produce on international standards, virus indexing laboratories, and will arrange for imports of the specified qualities and species from identified countries.

Jammu: The Administrative Council (AC), which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal to register the J&K Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages (JKAACL) as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The decision will align the Academy with the administrative changes brought in Jammu and Kashmir after its reorganization in 2019.

The reorganization of the J&K Academy of Art, Culture, and Languages is based on the existing models of central bodies like Sahitya Academy, Sangeet Natak Academy and Lalit Kala Academy.

The new Society will be governed through a Governing body under the chairmanship of Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor, and will also have other administrative authorities including General Council, Central Committee, and Finance Committee.

The Society will work to promote publication of literature on art, culture and allied subjects including monographs, journals, dictionaries, and encyclopedias; sponsor and organize cultural exchanges, mushairas, symposiums, seminars, lectures, meets, camps, conferences, exhibitions, film shows, music, dance & drama performances, and cultural festivals; and encourage translations of literary works from one regional /national language into others and also from non-Indian into regional / national languages.

Jammu: In a major relief to the artisans and weavers of Jammu and Kashmir, the Administrative Council (AC) which met here under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the transfer of administrative control of Pashmina Testing and Quality Certification Centre from Skill Development Department to Industries Department.

The decision will facilitate the artisans and weavers to avail testing, certification, and labelling facility for authentication of pashmina products. Besides, promotion of genuine pashmina based handicrafts and handloom products in the market, the interests of the artisans will be protected through the authentic trade.

Srinagar:  Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 97 new COVID-19 cases and one death in past 24 hours.

Of the new cases, 10 were from the Jammu division and 65 from the Kashmir region, official said.

Srinagar district recorded the highest of 39 cases, followed by 10 in Jammu district.

While 11 districts did not report any fresh cases, seven other districts had cases in single digits.

The number of active was 896 in the union territory, while 1,24,498 patients have recovered so far, the officials said.

The death toll due to the pandemic rose to is 1,969 as one fresh fatality was reported from the Valley in the past 24 hours

According to officials, among the total 127363 positive cases in J&K, 12580 have been reported as travelers while 114783 as others.

They said there are 1091 COVID dedicated beds, 962 Isolation beds with 957 vacant beds and 129 ICU beds where 125 beds are vacant in Jammu division while there are 1570 COVID dedicated beds, 1484 Isolation beds where 1424 beds are vacant and 86 ICU beds where 79 are vacant beds in Kashmir division. There are a total of 2661 COVID dedicated beds, 2446 Isolation beds with 2381 beds vacant and 215 ICU beds with 204 vacant beds in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Central Government is continuously monitoring the evolving situation of Covid-19 in the Union Territory and is providing all necessary support towards effective containment of the spread of Covid-19 and better clinical management of positive cases, the officials said.

By: Irfan Ahmad

Srinagar: Authorities have initiated a process for appointment of new vice chancellors in Jammu and Kashmir universities where term of VCs have ended or are nearing completion.

There are around 11 universities in Jammu and Kashmir including two central universities. Several universities are run by the caretakers.

Advisor in-charge Higher Education Department R R Bhatnaghar said a process has already begun to appoint new vice chancellors where the term of previous VCs has ended.

“In last few months, new vice chancellors were appointed at several universities in J&K. Process are also going in other universities,” Bhatnaghar said.

In April 2020, the Centre came up with the gazette notification for the acts that have been amended after the abrogation of article 370 which granted special status to J&K and stripped it into two Union Territories.

According to the new amendments in the University Act of JK, the tenure of Vice Chancellor of Universities is three years.

The government last month appointed Dean Academic Affairs at Kashmir University, Prof Akbar Masood as the new Vice Chancellor (VC) of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) Rajouri in Jammu for a period of three years. The previous Vice Chancellor’s term had ended in last year.

Similarly, the appointment of new VCs for Central University Kashmir and Cluster University Srinagar has begun and the final selection is under process.

The three year term of Prof Manoj K Dhar, vice chancellor of the University of Jammu will end in July this year.

Similarly, the three year term of Prof Talat Ahmad, VC of University of Kashmir will end in August this year.

A senior professor of Kashmir University said while a hunt has started to look for new VC of Jammu University, nothing has been done so far in Kashmir University.

While tenure of VC, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology (SKUAST) – Kashmir ended in October last year. (KINS)

New Delhi: India has recorded 22,854 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of those infected having reached 11,285,561, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

Cases recorded in the past 24 hours are two-month high and 27 per cent higher than the previous day’s figure of 17,921. The country hasn’t recorded such a peak since December 26 when it recorded 22,273 infection cases.

The death toll from the disease has reached 158,189 people, with 126 new fatalities being recorded over the past day. More than 10.93 million people have recovered in India since the start of the outbreak.

The worst-hit five states, according to the latest government updates, were Maharashtra (13,659), Kerala (2,475), Punjab (1,393), Karnataka (760), and Gujarat (675). The situation in Maharashtra, which has consistently topped the ranking over the past year, has been under scrutiny for a while with several districts imposing partial lockdowns or night curfews.

The Centre had said earlier this week that eight states and Union territories – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Haryana – had been displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases, with a weekly positivity rate higher than the national average of 2.29 per cent. High-level Central teams have been deputed to these states, besides Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir, to help them with the situation.

Meanwhile, 2.5 crore people have received their vaccine shots till now – yesterday alone saw 13.17 lakh injections administered. The Central government has ramped up the drive across with the second phase launched on March 1.

India comes second in terms of the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, following the United States, with more than 29.15 million COVID-19 patients.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 118 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 2.61 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.