Precious Kashmir

DPS Srinagar offers reward, scholarship to meritorious Ganderbal girl

City

01/03/2021

Srinagar: Delhi Pubilc School Srinagar has awarded the Satya Devi Amla Prize and a two year fully funded scholarship to Parveena Ayoub of Ganderbal who scored 490 out of 500 in her class X examination despite of all hardships and struggles. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 50000.

Parveena’s father, Ayoub, has to support a family of six including his four daughters and wife and the family lives in a single – room tin shed with minimum source of income. Coming from a financially weak background, Parveena soared through all the hardships and with perseverance and efforts, she managed to secure good grades by living in a single tin room with her siblings & parents.

Every year the school offers a cash prize of Rs 50,000 to a meritorious girl student, in keeping with its tradition of encouraging gender equality and promoting women empowerment. Delhi Public School Srinagar also runs a vocational centre for visually impaired named after Satya Devi.

Announcing the reward and scholarship, Vijay Dhar Chairman DPS Srinagar said, “We feel responsible for nurturing the dreams of achievers and dreamers, and under no condition can we let their dreams go waste for lack of resources. Parveena’s success deserves to be encouraged further, and provided the best platform to nurture it further.” He also reiterated that Delhi Public School Srinagar will provide her the best platform to excel in academics & other co-curricular & extra-curricular fields.

Covid crisis far from over, Third wave will be far more dangerous: CSIR DG Mande

National

United News Of India

01/03/2021

Thiruvananthapuram: Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General Dr Shekhar C Mande on Sunday warned that the Covid-19 crisis is far from being over and allowing a “third wave” by lowering our guard is fraught with grave consequences.
Also, continued collaboration across institutions was necessary to come out of the current situation as well as ward off catastrophic situations arising from climate change and over dependence on fossil fuels which had the “potential to wipe out the entire humanity.”
He was speaking on” Ïndia’s response to Covid-19 from S & T perspective” at a virtual “National Science Day Lectures,”organised by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology here.
Dr Mande clarified that India is nowhere near achieving herd immunity and as such people should continue to wear masks and maintain social distancing and hand hygiene to stay away from getting infected by the virus.
Cautioning the people and the scientific community against allowing “complacency to set in,” he warned that a third wave will precipitate a far more dangerous situation than the challenge the country had faced so far.
RGCB Director Chandrabhas Narayana moderated the digital lectures. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures, and Jayant Sahasrabudhe, National Organising Secretary of Vijnana Bharati, also gave lectures.
Answering questions from the scientific community, Dr Mande expressed the hope that the Covid-19 vaccines would be effective against the Covid-19 virus variants. The evidence “is not very strong” that the vaccines would not work against the mutated virus. “We would like to believe that the vaccines are effective” against the variants as the vaccines worked against the entire part of the virus while the mutation took place on a part of the virus , he explained.
The prevalence of Covid cases had come down not because of herd immunity, but because of other reasons, including wearing of masks and people remaining outdoors during the winter. The fact that the virus remained suspended in the air in closed areas and it lost its potency in open areas helped a great deal in controlling the spread during the winter, he said. Precisely for the same reason, the disease went out of control in the West where people remained indoors during the winter.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder and Former Executive Chairman, Infosys and Chairman of Axilor Ventures, said India must invest in Brain Sciences in the country as the whole world is moving heavily towards Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
AI and ML are Brain Sciences, which are a fast-growing area with significant investments being made globally. They are as important or even more important than digital computing and all the wealth created so far can be done in the next 30-50 years, he said in his talk on ‘Why invest in Brain Science’.
The AI and ML market is a large one and they are an economic, healthcare, social and security imperative.
Talking about the advantages of being part of the global Brain Science initiative, he said being a collaborative research there are more people working on them. There will be access to global data, multiple test scenarios and multiple markets.
It will also result in better integration of Indian research eco-system to the global context and access to experts from global labs. If India needs to grow fast, it has to be through innovation-led economic development.
He said he was exploring two areas in Brain Sciences — brain-inspired computing and understanding how the brain ages and disorders that arise due to ageing, such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, and other neurological disorders.
Jayant Sahasrabudhe, in his talk on ‘Pursuit of Science to Make India a Global Hub’, said what ails the country now is that “we are trying to indigenise other people’s technology”.
Once knowledge is acquired, technology will follow. “We should create knowledge of our own. By borrowing technology from others we are not going to develop.”

Food Adulteration: Tough Action Needed

Edit

Precious Kashmir

27/02/2021

Jammu and Kashmir J&K high court has closed a Public Interest Litigation following action taken reports filed by the authorities against those indulging in food adulteration.

The issue has been on the court’s radar for quite a sometime and its intervention led to the creation of infrastructure and recruiting of the staff in the department meant to effectively deal with a very important issue.

Due to lockdown on account of August 5 2019 decisions and present pandemic, the issue did not attract the same focus as before. “We hope and trust that the authorities will continue to act most effectively and efficiently and would take all measured precautions so that the Food Safety and Standard Act and the Rules thereunder are not violated and the offenders are strictly punished for which purpose regularly checking and sampling is continuously carried out,” the court while closing the PIL.

Unfortunately, the problems which plagued the system still exist so does the problem of adulteration. One cannot say with certainty that the complaints of past have gone or still exist. However, there have been appalling instances of food adulteration. For example, reports suggest, mustard oil was being mixed with potentially dangerous substances. Then reports surfaced milk is being thickened with urea, detergent powder and other such stuff. There were also reports that fruits and vegetables are being artificially coloured and chemicals are being injected by unscrupulous people for profit. Not long ago we came across reports that some unscrupulous elements are involved in adulteration of spices with various adulterants laced with dangerous dyes. Apart from lifestyle, the source of most of the diseases is the quality, and kind of food people consume.

It is a fact that the equality of the food available in the markets is deteriorating. It is now a recognized fact that deteriorating food quality has brought terrible results to fore.

The studies show a sharp rise in dangerous diseases like cancer, largely attributed to food. The experts have been stressing the implications of junk and packaged food. What has also come under focus is that spices, pulses, red and white meet, available in the markets need a strict vigil. Today we are again confronted by this threatening scenario that adulteration poses.

Beyond doubt, the food items available in the markets pose a threat to the health of people and clearly the only solution to this is stricter laws and penalties and this is what the top court of J&K has directed.

Only 6 houseboats get bio-digesters in 3 years, rest awaiting Govt’s attention

Anchor stories

Gul Owais

27/02/2021

Only 6 houseboats get bio-digesters in 3 years, rest awaiting Govt’s attention

Srinagar: The snail’s pace of work over installation of bio-digesters in the houseboats is putting a question mark over the government claims about the cleansing and other processes to preserve the world famous Dal Lake here.

Sources told Precious Kashmir that only a few houseboats have been covered by the concerned authorities as the process for installation of bio-digesters came to a grinding halt for unknown reasons.

They said the then Governor of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State, N N Vohra had pitched for completion of installation of bio-digesters in houseboats in three months.

President Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association, Abdul Hameed said in the last three years, the bio-digesters have been installed only in six houseboats.

“Three houseboats were covered last year while three more have been covered two years back,” he said adding the scientists from Siachen were called to look into the issue who batted for the installation of bio-digesters in the houseboats.

Hameed said the Experts Committee formed on directions of the High Court had recommended that the bio-digesters should be installed free of cost in the houseboats. “The process has not been started properly to cover all the houseboats.”

He said that after Vohra’s tenure ended, the administration later came up with a new revival package for the houseboat owners wherein it was stated that 80 per cent of the charges for installation of bio-digesters will be borne by the government and rest 20 per cent by the owner itself, which they (houseboat owners) accepted.

Nonetheless, the revival package has not been implemented on the ground since then.

“It seems that the government is not serious in the development and revival of the tourism sector,” Hameed said.

According to the government figures, over 900 houseboats are registered with the Tourism department whose eco-friendly waste management is necessary.

Pertinently, Bio-digester is a decomposition mechanised toilet system which decomposes human excretory waste in a digester tank specific high-graded bacteria.

10th class topper Gousia never studied in private school

Anchor stories

Precious Kashmir

27/02/2021

10th class topper Gousia never studied in private school

BY: AHMAD SHABIR

Srinagar: A girl student from a government high school in central Kashmir’s Budgam district was one of the toppers of class 10 exams, the results of which was declared on Friday.

Gousia Farooq, who was studying at Government High School (GHS) Gariend in Budgam secured 500 out 500 marks.

Hailing from a small hamlet of Patlibagh, Gousia comes from a poor family and has always studied in government schools.

“I got my primary, elementary and secondary education from government schools only,” Gousia said.

Though in class 5th, her father had admitted her in a private school but the financial conditions of the family forced them to move her to government school again.

“I studied in private school for only three months and realised that my father was not in a position to pay my school fee. Though the school management was ready to teach me free of cost but I moved to government school again,” Gousia told Precious Kashmir.

Gousia has five sisters and a brother, who is the younger of all. Three sisters elder to her have completed graduation while the one, younger to her studies in class 8th.

“All my elder sisters have studied in government schools and I followed them too,” Gousia said.

She gives the credit of her grand success to her father and teachers.

“My father has always been supportive to us. Despite facing poverty he never let me feel what he actually was going through. Besides he always prays for our success and I firmly believe that my success is the result of his prayers. My teachers also deserve the credit of my success,” she said.

Gousia believes that it is the commitment and determination of a student that actually plays a role in his or her success.

“If you don’t have a commitment, you are bound to fail no matter where you study,” she said.

Gousia did not take any tuition while preparing for exams. “After the outbreak of Covid pandemic everything was shut, I attended some online classes initially and then decided to go for self study only”.

Her father Farooq Ahmad Mughal is overjoyed over the success of his daughter.

“There can be no joy for a father than this. I think my daughteris the only student from government school who is among the toppers,” Mughal said and credited her daughter’s hard work and her teachers guidance for Gousia’s success.

JK touching new heights in peace, dev: PM Modi

Front

Precious Kashmir

27/02/2021

JK touching new heights in peace, dev: PM Modi

Gulmarg acknowledged as promising winter-sports destination in intl circuit: LG

Rijiju assures full support of Sports Ministry for developing JK’s sports sector

2 Khelo India centres of excellence & Khelo India centres in all districts coming up in JK

Gulmarg: Prime Minister, Narendra Modi Friday delivered the inaugural address at 2nd edition of Khelo India National Winter Games-2021 through virtual mode.

Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha and Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju also addressed the huge gathering during inaugural ceremony of the mega event at world famous winter sports destination – Gulmarg.

From February 26 to March 02, 2021, more than 600 Athletes from all over the country are participating in different winter-sports disciplines including Alpine Skiing, Nordic Ski, Snowboarding, Snow Mountaineering, Ice Hockey, Ice Skating, Ice Stock and Snow Shoe.

In his address, the Prime Minister observed that the second edition of Khelo India Winter Games is a major step towards making Jammu and Kashmir a hub of the Winter Games.

The Prime Minister said that winter games in Jammu & Kashmir would help in developing a new sporting ecosystem and would instill new spirit and enthusiasm in the tourism sector in Jammu & Kashmir.

Experience from this winter games would help the players while participating in the Winter Olympics, said the PM.

Modi said participation of national and international players in the Khelo India International Games Festival Gulmarg will raise the moral and self-confidence of every participant. “This festival will also add to the challenges and competition before the J&K teams and help them further excel in the winter games”.

He said with Gulmarg hosting the grand event, the development signifies that J&K is touching new heights in peace and developmental fronts. “Jammu and Srinagar will have Khelo India Centres of Excellence to be followed with such centres in all districts of the UT”.

Speaking on the occasion, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha called upon the participating sportspersons to spread the message of Peace, Unity, Goodwill, Love and Empowerment.

Let us share this experience of unifying power of sports with the world, remarked the Lt Governor.

“Gulmarg has been acknowledged as a promising Winter-sports destination in the International circuit. Khelo India Winter Games is not merely an event, it is a mission to bring together the youth from all over the country and showcase our sporting talent to the world,” he observed.

Expressing gratitude towards the central government for taking several measures for the development of the sports sector in J&K, the Lt Governor observed that the Government of India under the able leadership of Prime Minister is providing state-of-the-art sports infrastructure, world class coaching and modern resources for promotion of sports in J&K.

Underscoring the significance of sports, he observed that ‘Unity in Diversity’ is the beauty of sports that makes us stronger. “It is a powerful medium to spread peace and building a better society”.

Addressing the sportspersons, the Lt Governor advised them to showcase the sportsmen spirit and learn from each other to enhance their skill sets.

Union Minister of State (I/C) for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju, in his address termed the occasion as an important day for sports in India and a leap towards developing winter sports culture and excellence in the country.

“Prime Minister’s dream of organising Winter Games in India was fulfilled last year with the first edition of Khelo India Winter Games. The success will be repeated this year as well with the joint efforts of the Government and the enthusiasm shown by the people towards winter games,” he said.

The Union MoS assured full support of the Union Sports Ministry in taking the sports sector in the UT to new heights.

He said Mata Vaishno Devi Sports Complex will be developed into a Khelo India Sports Academy.

Earlier, the dignitaries also released Souvenir for the event. An impressive march past was also presented by the Athletes.

US, UN welcome India-Pak ceasefire agreement

Front

Agencies

27/02/2021

‘Positive step towards greater peace’

New Delhi: A day after India, Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) starting from February 25, the United Nations and the United States welcomed the development.

The UN said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is encouraged by their decision to strictly observe all agreements on a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and hopes that the “positive step” would “provide an opportunity for further dialogue”.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki welcomed the joint statement and urged both countries to keep building upon the progress.

“United States welcomes the joint statement between India and Pakistan that the two countries have agreed to maintain strict observance of a ceasefire along the Line of Control starting on February 25. This is a positive step towards greater peace and stability in South Asia, which is in our shared interest and we encourage both countries to keep building upon this progress,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

On Thursday, India and Pakistan released a joint statement saying that they have held discussions regarding establishing a mechanism for hotline contact and also agreed to a ceasefire along the LoC starting from February 25.

Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan also reviewed the current situation across the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors “in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere” and agreed to address each other’s core issues and concerns which have the propensity to disturb the peace and lead to violence.

During the meeting, it was also decided that both sides would utilize border flag meetings to deal with any unforeseen situation or address any misunderstanding.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the US has always backed direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern.

“We welcome the arrangement that was announced that will go into effect I should say on February 25,” he added.

Sehrish among 9 officers transferred

Front

Precious Kashmir

27/02/2021

Pandey posted as Additional Secy in LG’s Sectt, to hold charge of Dir Info; Athar is SMC commissioner

Srinagar: The administration on Friday ordered transfer of nine officers in the interest of administration with immediate effect.

Alok Kumar, awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Principal Secretary to the Government, Youth Services and Sports Department.

Sarmad Hafeez, Administrative Secretary, Youth Services and Sports Department, holding additional charge of Administrative Secretary, Tourism and Culture Departments was transferred and posted as Administrative Secretary, Tourism Department. He shall also hold the charge of Administrative Secretary, Culture Department, in addition to his own duties, till further orders.

Syed Sehrish Asgar, Director, Information, J&K, was transferred and posted as Additional Secretary to the Government, Information Department relieving Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah of the additional charge of the post.

Rahul Pandey, awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Additional Secretary in the Lieutenant Governor’s Secretariat. He shall also hold the charge of Director, Information, J&K, in addition to his own duties, till further orders.

Krittika Jyotsna, awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Chief Executive Officer, Jammu and Kashmir Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA), relieving Bipul Pathak Principal Secretary to the Government, Science and Technology Department of the additional charge of the post.

She shall also hold the additional charge of Secretary, J&k Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, relieving Munirul-Islam, Director, Archives, Archaeology and Museums, J&K of the additional charge of the post.

Athar Aamir UI Shafi Khan, awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation.

Akshay Labroo, awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department, was posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Srinagar (West), vice Hamida Akhter (KAS), who has been asked to report in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir.

Gazanffer Ali, Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, has been transferred and posted as Additional Inspector General of Registration, Kashmir.

Gulzar Ahmad Dar, Additional Inspector General of Registration, Kashmir, was been transferred and posted as Additional District Development Commissioner, Srinagar, against an available vacancy.

Kansal reviews progress on ongoing CSS projects of PDD

Front

Precious Kashmir

27/02/2021

Directs officers to remove bottlenecks, speed up execution

Jammu: Principal Secretary Power Development Department (PDD), Rohit Kansal Friday chaired a meeting to review the financial and physical progress on the ongoing Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) of Power department in Jammu and Kashmir. The Principal Secretary reviewed district-wise and circle-wise status of financial and physical status of the ongoing works under different CSS being executed by different agencies in various districts and circles of the Union Territory.

The meeting was attended by Managing Director Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL), Chief Engineer Distribution Kashmir/Jammu, Chief Engineer Transmission Kashmir/Jammu, Chief Engineer Projects Kashmir/Jammu, Chief Engineer Planning/ Procurement Jammu, Director Finance PDD, Heads of Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) and Project management Agencies (PMAs), SEs, EXENs and other concerned.

At the outset, a detailed power-point presentation was given over the targets and achievements under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, (DDUGY), PMDP, RAPDRP, RGGVY, IPDS and other schemes undertaken in PDD sector of the districts.

The Principal Secretary was informed that for projects of Jammu division, being executed circle-wise and district-wise under PMDP-Urban Scheme, out of Rs 537.32 crore sanctioned amount of center share, Rs 212.04 crore has already been spent. Similarly, under the PMDP-Rural scheme, out of a sanctioned amount of Rs 464.40 crore, an amount of Rs 126.76 crore has been spent on the projects.

While reviewing physical and financial progress on CSS, Kansal directed the concerned officers to remove all the bottlenecks and RoW issues so as to speed up the execution of the projects. He also asked the concerned engineers to prioritise works and formulate definite timelines for early completion of these projects. He also asked the concerned officers to devise a system to continuously monitor and redress all pending issues including delays in payments besides removing all bottlenecks like forest clearances and land-related issues. Also, detailed discussions were held on various issues including status of projects sanctioned with current execution level, timeline for completion, augmentation, Feeder Segregation, Sub-Station Augmentation Transformer, Status of 33KV and 11KV Lines and other issues involved in various PDD projects.

He also directed the concerned chief engineers of both the Corporations (JPDCL, KPDCL) to minimize the gap between completion of projects and handing over the same to be put for public use at the earliest.

The Principal Secretary asked CEs of both the power distribution corporations to ensure all compliances including proper maintainence of accounts, timely audits and submission of UCs.

He emphasized that third party monitoring and addressing of all issues that emerged as a result of the monitoring were essential elements of the compliance process and should be studiously adhered to.

Kansal assured all possible support and assistance to PIAs and PMAs from the side of the government and asked them to gear- up the men and machinery to achieve the set targets within the given time limits.

3 youth attempting to exfiltrate to PaK arrested in Kupwara

Front

United News Of India

27/02/2021

Srinagar: Three youth were on Friday arrested in frontier Kashmir district of Kupwara while they were attempting to exfiltrate to Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK).

Official sources said following specific information, a police team arrested three youth in their 20s in Kupwara. “The trio was on way to cross the Line of Control (LoC) via Kupwara to PaK,” they said.

They said the youth had established contact with a militant commander in Pakistan. “The accused have been identified as Mohammad Rameez Rather, Javid Ahmad Rather and Aijaz Ahmad Sofi, all residents of Kupwara”.

They said police has registered a case and initiated investigation to ascertain other people, who were helping the trio to exfilterate to PaK for arms training.

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