Jammu, Jan 22: Panic gripped Chatroo area of Kishtwar district on Friday after militants lobbed grenade on a police vehicle in Chatroo area of hilly area in Jammu and Kashmir.
“A grenade throwing incident has been reported on police vehicle in Dadpeth area of Chatroo and we are investigating the matter,” Dr Harmeet Singh, SSP Kishtwar here told UNI.
Earlier on Thursday, DIG Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban Range, Abdul Jabar while reviewing the security scenario ahead of Republic Day had claimed that Doda-Ramban districts are now militancy free.
There are three districts in the Erstwhile Doda district and out of these, Doda and Ramban are now militancy-free while an area in Kishtwar district still has a militancy presence.
“We are trying our best to make the area militancy-free as soon as possible,” the DIG had said.

Srinagar, Jan 22: Due to weekly maintenance no traffic was allowed on Friday on the 270-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only all weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country.
Meanwhile, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to open on January 29 the bridge at Kela Morh which was damaged after a retaining wall collapsed on January 10.
The 86-km-long historic Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region and Anantnag-Sampthan-Kishtwar road also remained closed since last week of December, 2020 due to accumulation of snow.
A traffic police official said Srinagar-Jammu national remained closed today to allow NHAI to carry out necessary maintenance and repair work on the road.
The administration has decided to allow NHAI to undertake weekly necessary repair work on Friday after frequent disruption in traffic movement on the highway.
Construction of bridge at Kela Morh by NHAI was going on war footing despite sub zero temperature. The bridge is likely to open for traffic on January 29 provided there is no weather disruption, NHAI officials said.
The main concrete bridge was damaged on January 10 after a retaining wall was damaged. Since there was no alternative available to resume traffic, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) constructed 40 metric tone capacity bailey bridge and traffic was allowed on January 17. Since only one vehicle can pass the bailey bridge at a time, one-way traffic was allowed on the highway.

Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Jan 22: Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded four more deaths due to COVID-19 taking the death toll to 1,928 while 88 positive cases were reported taking the tally of positive cases to 123,852 in J&K.
Of the 88 new cases, 46 belong to Kashmir while 42 are from Jammu division.
In the last 24 hours, four persons including two each from Kashmir and Jammu regions died of Covid-19.
Of the total number of 123,852 positive cases in J&K, 72,491 are from Kashmir and 51,361 from Jammu division.
The officials said that total number of active cases in Jammu and Kashmir are 1,098 including 701 from Kashmir division and 397 from Jammu division.
With 97 more recoveries, the tally of total recoveries in Jammu and Kashmir has reached to 120,826 which is 97.56 percent of the total cases.
As per the daily information bulletin 1,063,342 persons in Jammu and Kashmir are under observation while 34,824 persons have been kept under home quarantine besides that 1,098 persons are in isolation.
According to the bulletin, 943,977 persons have completed surveillance period and 81,515 persons are under home surveillance besides that so far results of 4,361,420 samples are available.
Out of 4,361,420 the number of samples tested negative stands at 4,237,568 while as 123,852 have tested positive, among them 1,098 persons are active, 120,826 persons have recovered and 1,928 persons have died. KNO)

Youth agent of change, teacher’s role most crucial: Sinha
Call on all stakeholders to contribute towards development of new, aatma nirbhar JK
Precious Kashmir News
Samba, Jan 22: “Youth is the agent of change. With transformation of youngsters into knowledge powerhouse, the entire country can be transformed”. Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha made these remarks during his visit to Central University of Jammu at Samba.
While addressing the gathering, the Lt Governor spoke on the length and breadth of the New Education Policy and new dimensions it will bring in the education system.
The Lt Governor said that the New Education Policy will ensure that the coming generation is given opportunity to leave the old, fixed path and take up new and innovative challenges to create AatmaNirbhar Bharat.
With the New Education Policy, youth can follow their passion and most importantly focus on ‘How to think’ instead of ‘What you think’ as envisioned by the Prime Minister, the Lt Governor observed.
Making a special mention of the Teaching fraternity, the Lt Governor said that teachers can freely take new initiatives to focus on job-oriented education. Teachers are nurturing the powerhouse of the nation. They should encourage students to take up new research, tread new path of innovation which nobody has ever taken to explore, he added.
New generation is thinking of spending vacation on the moon. Our teachers will have to share this dream and create a New Tomorrow, a New Future and a New Vision”, the Lt Governor observed.
The Lt Governor urged the Teaching fraternity to focus on the quality of education so that “we may see the likes of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam coming out of the universities”.
Noting with satisfaction that students from as many as 13 States are studying in the Central University of Jammu, the Lt Governor asked the University Authorities to enrol more students for various courses, affording opportunity to more local students and at the same time, ensuring quality of research.
Aimed at making the UT self-sufficient, the Lt Governor called upon all stakeholders to contribute towards the development of New and AatmaNirbhar Jammu Kashmir.
Terming teachers’ role as most crucial at this juncture, Sinha observed that with new generation under the able guidance of teachers, the potential of youth can be developed for bringing in the revolution in every sector.
On emerging global trends, he said that there are always new challenges and opportunities in the globalized world and we are facing completely new competition today. “We can be amongst the frontrunners only if we focus on producing something better than others.”
The Lt Governor said that the consistent engagement with other centres of excellence in our education system aimed at developing a vast talent pool to bridge the gap between skill sets and modern day industrial requirements. He further stressed on incorporating students’ feedback system in the education system, which leads to healthy communication and improvement in the institution.
Underscoring the initiatives taken by the Government for channelizing the young energies in right direction, Sinha said there is a window of exciting opportunities being open up for our young generation so that they can reap the benefits of the new policies and plans of the UT Government specially envisaged for empowering the youth.
Citing the challenges being faced by the Universities across the world of providing sufficient resources, primarily due to lack of qualified teachers, the Lt Governor stressed on fully exploiting the human resources available in the educational institutions.
The Lt Governor laid special emphasis on conducting periodic analysis across the whole gamut of faculty recruitment to identify the gaps and what needs to be done to be on the top. “This strategy, I believe, will turn any kind of crisis into an opportunity”, said the Lt Governor.
He released a handbook on Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Diversity of Central University of Jammu authored by Dr. Pankaj Mehta and Ms. Anjali Bala.
During the Lt Governor’s visit, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Central Universities of Jammu, Kashmir & Himachal Pradesh; besides a MoU was signed between Central University of Jammu and IIT Jammu for academic exchange and collaboration, in his presence.
Foundation stones were laid for infrastructural development projects worth Rs 33.77 crores, including 12.4 km long Trikuta Chardiwari costing Rs 25 crores and Devika Mahila Chhatrawas (100 bedded Girls hostel) worth Rs 8.77 crores, to be completed in 12 months and 10 months, respectively. Whereas, Prabandhan Vidyapeeth (Prefabricated Bhavan) costing Rs 32 lakhs was inaugurated.

Schools in Jammu to open from Feb 1, Valley schools to open after winter vacations
Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Jan 22: The Jammu and Kashmir on Friday ordered re-opening of the schools in the Union Territory after the prolonged Covid lockdown.
In an order issued by the school education department, schools in the summer zone of the Jammu division will reopen for classes IX to XII from February 1.
“In case of elementary classes, teachers shall attend schools from February 1 for preparation. Students should physically attend classes from February 8,” read an order issued by BK Singh, administrative secretary to the government.
Schools in Kashmir division for class IX to XII will reopen as per schedule after the winter vacation.
Schools in Kashmir are closed for winter vacation till February 28
The standard operating procedures shall have to be followed in letter and spirit as per the suggestions of the district disaster management authorities.
“For the ownership of the initiative, a local committee needs to be framed comprising of parents, VEC members, SMC members, and other prominent persons from the habitation for monitoring and support of the school. The students can sit almost two meters apart from each other. In case of non-availability of such space, staggered schedule/shift timings can be an option,” reads the order.
Wearing masks have been made mandatory for the students and teachers.
“All students and teachers would wear masks. Hand washing points with proper soap should be made available for the students and teachers. Everybody should wash hands frequently wherever possible. In case of absence of washing stations, hand sanitizers of standard quality prescribed by the government should be used as hand rub,” reads the order.
Disinfecting, sanitizing, and cleaning the learning spaces and surfaces in convergence with the concerned department and local volunteers should be a daily affair.
While coming and leaving school, students and teachers should maintain a physical distance of at least two meters from each other and no student or teacher should breach this distance rule.
According to the order, exchanging notebooks, stationery items have been strictly banned. “The student safety, self-esteem, and security should be ensured. Keep students reminding of Covid related precautions, Schools authorities should limit any nonessential visitors, volunteers, and activities involving external groups in the school”.

Srinagar, Jan 22: Ban on import of live birds, including poultry and unprocessed poultry meat, for any purpose into the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir from non infected areas has been lifted.

Principal Secretary to Government Naveen Kumar Choudhary said that in view of stringent surveillance mechanism in place for containment and spread of Bird Flu in the Country and the instructions as conveyed by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, there will be no ban on import of live birds including poultry and unprocessed poultry meat for any purpose into the UT sourced from non-infected areas and beyond the 10 kilometers radius of Bird Flu infected zone with effect from January 19, 2021.

However, it is mandatory for the importers and Suppliers to provide a Certificate from District Veterinary Officer or Chief Animal Husbandry Officer of the concerned district of the sourced State and UT that the source of poultry is not from any infected area or suspected area and also not within 10 kilometers radius of notified Bird Flu infected zone.

Director Animal Husbandry Kashmir will setup a robust surveillance centre at Lower Munda to lift samples from each vehicle carrying poultry for testing.

He said Director Animal Husbandry Jammu will further strengthen the surveillance system including testing of samples from each consignment at Lakhanpur.

Further, all Chief Animal Husbandry Officers will make a system to visit poultry importers, poultry farms and sale points on daily basis for surveillance purpose, Choudhary said.

Import of poultry was banned on January 8 under Section 10 of the Prevention and Control of infectious and contagious Diseases Act, 2009. Complete ban on the import of live birds, including poultry and unprocessed poultry meat, for any purpose into the Union Territory of J&K with immediate effect was imposed till January 14.

The order had said that in the wake of spread of bird flu and as a measure of abundant precaution, the whole of J&K was being declared as a ‘Controlled Area.

Kashmir valley is importing poultry birds and eggs worth several hundred crores of rupees annually from different northern states, particularly Punjab. Ban on import had badly hit the poultry dealers in Punjab.

Directs Banks to improve lending to housing, priority sectors
Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Jan 22: Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam has commended the banks for their performance under AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Back to Village Programme and various other initiatives taken by the Central and UT Government. He stated that the banks have to be the partners with Government in the process of economic development of J&K.
Chief Secretary made these remarks while chairing the 2nd Meeting of J&K Union
Territory Level Bankers’ Committee (UTLBC) meeting held today.
The meeting was attended by Financial Commissioner (Finance) Arun Kumar Mehta), Principal Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Dheeraj Gupta , Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry / Agriculture Production, Navin Kumar Chowdhary, Director, DFS, MoF (GoI) A K Dogra, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Kamal P. Patnaik, CGM NABARD, R K Srivastava, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, Deputy Commissioners of Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts. Other senior functionaries of the Government, RBI, NABARD, line departments, Banks, LDMs, Insurance companies, BSNL were also present in the meeting.
On the occasion, Chairman & MD, J&K Bank (Convenor, UTLBC J&K) R K Chhibber apprised that the Banks in UT of J&K have disbursed an amount of Rs 22,472.17 Cr to 8,94,866 beneficiaries upto 31st December, 2020, thereby achieving 50.35 pc in financial terms and 58.18 pc in physical terms of the target fixed under Annual Credit Plan 2020-21. Under the major four Government Sponsored Schemes (GSS), viz. NRLM, PMEGP, NULM and SC/ST/OBC Schemes, it was informed that an amount of Rs.376.71 Cr has been disbursed by banks in favour of 13,536 beneficiaries.
Regarding 100% saturation of farmers under KCC Scheme, it was observed that banks in UT of J&K have issued 9.78 lac KCCs to farmers in J&K, which include 8.86 lac issued to Agricultural farmers and 0.92 lac KCCs to the farmers associated with Animal Husbandry and Fisheries activities with a total financial outlay of Rs 5900 Cr. Chief Secretary advised banks to ensure 100% saturation of farmers under KCC Scheme including those associated with allied agricultural activities, viz. Dairy, Sheep, Poultry, Fisheries, etc. He stressed upon the banks to ensure that all pending KCC applications (both under Agriculture as well as Animal Husbandry/Fisheries) are disposed off by the end of Current Financial Year.
Regarding performance under various sectors, the Chief Secretary advised the banks to lay special focus on Agriculture, MSMEs and Housing Sectors and ensure achievement of allocated target under Annual Credit Plan 2020-21.
The Schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), Stand-up India, where loans upto Rs 1.00 Crore are provided to women & SC/ST entrepreneurs, need to be pushed on a mission mode the Chief Secretary added. He further emphasized the need for wider publicity of PMAY so that people of J&K UT can avail the benefit of interest subsidy.
Chief Secretary instructed banks to cover all eligible cases under PM SVANidhi Yojana (Street Vendors Scheme) – one of the flagship programs of GoI under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, including 6000 more cases expected to be sponsored by the concerned sponsoring agencies, by the end of CFY (2020-21). He also stressed upon the need to substantially increase issuance of indigenous RuPay Debit Cards to fulfill the Government of India vision to take every Indian towards a “less cash” society.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary lauded the role played by J&K Bank during the UT Government’s Back to Village Program besides appreciating the efforts of SBI in having improved its performance under lending to Priority Sector. However, it was noted that performance of major new generation Private Sector Banks viz. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank in lending to Priority Sector and Government Sponsored Schemes has not remained satisfactory. They were advised to scale up their performance in J&K henceforth.

Agencies
Tehran, Jan 22: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office has posted a photomontage of former US president Donald Trump playing golf under the shadow of a warplane alongside a pledge to avenge a deadly 2020 drone strike he ordered.
The post on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s @khamenei_site Twitter account late Thursday warned there was no escape from payback for the US strike outside Baghdad airport which killed Iran’s storied foreign operations chief General Qasem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant.
“Revenge is inevitable. Soleimani’s killer and the man who gave the orders must face vengeance,” it said.
“Revenge can take place at any moment.”
Trump left office on Wednesday and flew straight to his Mar-a-Lago golf club in Florida, without attending the inauguration of his successor President Joe Biden.
Iranian officials have pledged repeatedly that Soleimani will be avenged.
Earlier this month, on the first anniversary of his killing, judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi warned that not even Trump was “immune from justice” and that Soleimani’s killers would “not be safe anywhere in the world”.
Meanwhile, Twitter suspended the account of Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office after it posted a photomontage of former US president Donald Trump playing golf under the shadow of a warplane.
The photo had a pledge to avenge a deadly 2020 drone strike he ordered accompanying it.

Precious Kashmir News
Rajouri, Jan 22: Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday claimed to have arrested a man, who was duping innocent youth on the name of providing government jobs to them here in Rajouri district of Jammu region.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rajouri, Chandan Kohli said that on Thursday, a complaint was received from Iftikhar Khan, son of Khan Mir of Tarkasi Kotranka who alleged therein that one Altaf Hussain, son of Sher Mohammad of Rehan Kotranka projected himself as Naib Tehsildar to the applicant and induced the applicant to pay an amount of five lakh rupees for providing job in Finance Department.
The complainant also stated that accused later on provided an appointment letter which on verification turned to be fake and forged and accused thereby deceived the applicant and grabbed his hard earned money.
Taking cognizance of the complaint, SSP Rajouri Chandan Kohli said, a case under relevant sections of law was registered in Kandi Police Station and a team of police headed by Inspector Ashiq Hussain of Police Post Peeri under the supervision of DySP Operations Rajouri Imtiaz Ahmed started investigation during which the accused was found missing but after hectic efforts and technical surveillance, he has been arrested from Jammu.
In investigation, it has come to the fore that the fraudster has deceived many other job aspirants and grabbed a huge amount from them, which is expected at around seventy lakhs.
Fraudster has also taken attested copies of certificates and photographs of applicant on the name of providing them job, the officials said.
SSP Rajouri Chandan Kohli further informed that a case under FIR number 05/2021 under section 419/420/465/467/471 IPC has been registered at PS Kandi and investigation is going on with a MG Hector vehicle valuing over twenty lakhs has been seized from his possession.
SSP Rajouri further said that prima facia, it has come to fore that dozens of job aspirants have been cheated by said fraudster on the name of providing job.
“We appeal every citizen to remain cautious against such fraudsters who deceive people on the name of employment and take away their hard earned money,” SSP appealed—(KNO)