NAFED to invest Rs.1700 cr for high density plantation covering 5500 hectares in next 5 years
Precious Kashmir News
New Delhi, Jan 1:: In an important step towards the promotion of Horticulture produce of Jammu & Kashmir and to take it to the global market, the J&K Government today signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED), apex organization of marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce in the country.
The MoU with NAFED is seen as a game changer for the Horticulture sector in Jammu and Kashmir. High Density plantation of Apple, Walnut, Cherry, Flowers etc has potential to increase the income of farmers by 3 to 4 times.
After signing of the MoU, NAFED to cover 5500 Hectares at a cost of Rs.1700 Crore in the next five years with major focus on Apple, Walnut, Cherry, Pear and other significant horticulture produce. NAFED will also set up 20 Farmer-Producer Organizations, one in each district, in the next three months.
The NAFED will set up three cold storage clusters, one each in North Kashmir, South Kashmir and Kathua at a cost of Rs.500 Crore, besides ensuring Geographical Indications tags (GI Tags) for all premium/niche horticulture produce, branding and marketing of fruit crops like Apple, Walnut, Cherry, Olive, Litchi etc.
In presence of Shri Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor, UT of J&K, the MoU was signed between Sh. Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Government, Agriculture and Horticulture Department, J&K and Sh. Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, Managing Director, NAFED.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha observed that the J&K Government is tirelessly working on four issues that are being addressed on priority -Increasing productivity through intervention of technology; ensuring best price and market support; mitigation of risks, and diversification through allied activities.
The Lt Governor said that Horticulture produce of Jammu division will be given a major push for marketing and NAFED will also look into the possibility of high density plantation of Apple in Kishtwar and Bhaderwah.
“The UT Government will work with NAFED to promote horticulture produce and to set up a quality planting material lab. GI tagging of all premium horticulture produce and marketing is top priority of the administration. The investment in various areas to promote and market horticulture produce is being made for faster expansion. We intend to increase Cold Storage capacity, identify and promote horticulture produce of Jammu division to ensure better price to farmers,” the Lt Governor said.
As per the MoU, NAFED with J&K Government will create post-harvest infrastructure for agriculture/horticulture crops in the form of Cold Atmosphere Stores, Grading and Processing facilities in future at the locations decided by the UT administration. Besides, implementation of high density plantation, NAFED will develop hi-tech nurseries for raising root stock and also import it to facilitate the farmers.
This historical initiative involves setting up virus indexing labs as per latest protocol for testing of quality planting material. The MoU has given a major thrust to marketing. The NAFED with J&K Government will work on branding and marketing of fruit crops and establishment of market linkages for exotic and non-seasonal vegetables and flowers in different metro cities of India.
Sanjeev Kumar Chadha, Managing Director, NAFED said the organisation will work in a time bound manner on each point to increase productivity and also ensuring availability of hybrid vegetable seeds and high value exotic vegetable seeds while giving special focus to popularize aromatic plants of Jammu division.
Navin Kumar Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Government, Agriculture and Horticulture Department, J&K said that all the required infrastructure including cold storage and processing facilities will be made available in a short span of time to take horticulture of Jammu and Kashmir in the global market. The robust mechanism for branding and marketing of horticulture produce and market linkage within the country will revolutionize the agriculture and horticulture sector in Jammu and Kashmir, he added.

BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department and Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor, besides other senior officers attended the MoU signing ceremony, in person and through virtual mode.

Srinagar, Jan 1: Militants on Friday lobbed a grenade at a security force party in the summer capital, Srinagar.
Official sources said that unidentified militants hurled a grenade at Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) party in Chanapora area in uptown Srinagar. However, they said the grenade missed the target and exploded at a distance, adding no one was injured in the attack.
They said the militants managed to escape during the chaos created due to the blast. “Additional security forces have been rushed to the area and a search operation has been launched to trace the attackers,” they said.

Srinagar, Jan 1: Former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashok Koul and others have condemned the killing of a goldsmith by gunmen in Srinagar on Thursday.
“Very unfortunate. There can be no justification for this kind of violence. May the soul of the departed rest in peace & may his family find strength at this difficult time,” Omar Abdullah, who is the vice-president of National Conference (NC), wrote on micro-blogging site twitter.
Reacting to the killing, Mehbooba, who is the president of PDP, said violence has no place in a civilized society. “Condemn the gruesome killing of an innocent man in Srinagar yesterday. Violence has no place in a civilised society. Deepest condolences to the bereaved family,” Mehbooba tweeted.
BJP’s General Secretary (Organization), Ashok Koul, who was present during the cremation of the slain goldsmith at Shamshan Bhoomi, Karan Nagar Srinagar said that those involved in the act are not humans.
Meanwhile, Apni Party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari also condemned the killing of Satpal Nischal, owner of Nischal Jewelers, by gunmen in Srinagar on Thursday evening.
In a statement Altaf Bukhari termed the incident gruesome and demanded that the culprits be booked and given a stern punishment as warranted under law.
The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) also condemned the killing of the goldsmith and conveyed deepest condolences to bereaved family and friends of the deceased.

Jammu, Jan 1: A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of army was killed as intense cross LoC shelling rattled Nowshera sector of Jammu region, officials said Friday.

They said that due to intense shelling, people have confined themselves to four walls of house. “A Naib Subedar sustained injuries and later succumbed,” an official told KNO.
Officials said that from 03:25 PM onwards, heavy ceasefire violation is going on in areas of Nowshera sector with Jahanger forward post and Makdi villages worst affected.
“More than ten kilometers of LoC stretch is under intense mortar shelling as we as post to post fire,” said officials. They said that an army Naib Subedar deployed on forward location in Saryah area got injured in the firing and succumbed later on during treatment. They slain JCO has been identified as Naib Subedar Ravinder Kumar.

Baramulla, Jan 1: After claiming the arrest of TRF’s Over Ground Worker (OGW) in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir police on Friday said that a first of its kind grenade was recovered from his possession.
Police said that the arrested OGW was tasked to recruit youth and to kill a newly elected Councillor. Police also said that the arrested OGW has faced four PSAs in the past.
In the morning, Baramulla police said that one of the most wanted OGW was arrested along with three Chinese grenades.

Addressing a news conference, Senior Superintendent Of Police (SSP), Baramulla, Abdul Qayoom said that “We have arrested a militant associate (Asif Gull) last year on 29 December who was under the police radar for the past eight months since he was involved in a grenade attack in Baramulla in August last year that claimed the lives of forces personnel besides having over two dozen cases registered against him.”
He said that during the investigation, the most wanted and longest surviving militant (Referring to Hyder and associates) who were killed in an encounter last year were in touch.
“Hyder and another associate were in touch with Asif Gull and it repeatedly surfaced he was involved in a grenade attack but had gone into hiding since then to undertake some tasks,” he said.

In the preliminary investigation, it surfaced that Asif had even managed to move outside J&K, he said.
Terming the arrest as an achievement for security forces and police, the SSP said that the apprehended Asif Gull is involved in at least 29 FIRs in Baramulla, four at Sopore, and also was booked under four PSAs.
“Abid, his friend, a student enrolled at Jammu College went to Pakistan via Wagah Border by availing a Visa and is presently running TRF outfit as top commander based in Pakistan and Asif was tasked to recruit youth into the outfit (TRF)”, he said.
“First of its kind grenades have been recovered from Asif. In Jammu and Kashmir, no such recovery has been made so far by the security forces and all were kept within a bag full of charcoal covered with a plastic bottle to escape from the joint Naka,” SSP said.
The SSP said that in the preliminary investigation, it also surfaced that apprehended Asif has done huge extortion in the name of Lashkar and TRF but none of the individuals has so far approached the police with a complaint against him.
“With his arrest, we are sure that almost eight youth have been saved from joining the TRF outfit and his stay in Srinagar is also being investigated and it’ll be thoroughly investigated what he was asked to execute there,” he said.
To a question about the purpose of his visit to outside J&K, the SSP said that it’s a preliminary investigation and the movement traced has revealed his presence outside J&K as well but the investigation is still underway and all the security agencies are involved in the questioning.
“The questioning by the joint security agencies will reveal the purpose of his visit to outside J&K but the observations reveal that he was tasked for some militancy-related activities there,” he said.
The SSP also said that Asif Gull was recently tasked to kill a Councillor who won the elections held recently. “The Councillor has been informed about the intentions of militants.”(KNO)

Jammu, Jan 1: At least seven persons were injured in an explosion that took place in a compartment of famous Amar Singh Club Jammu on Friday afternoon.
Officials said that an explosion took place on Friday noon in the kitchen complex of Amar Singh Club, located in Jammu city.
The persons present in the complex received burn injuries, who have been shifted to hospital for treatment, they said.
The injured persons include Surinder Singh, Parkash Chand, Daljit Singh, Muneer Hussain, Mustaffa, Rajul and Tilak Raj, officials said, adding that police started investigation into the matter.
Reportedly, it was a gas cylinder explosion at the Club while the officials said that the investigation has been started to ascertain the facts. (KNO)

Tasaduq Hussain
Srinagar, Jan 1: Dozens of MBBS students including male and female Friday staged a protest outside the SKIMS Medical College against the administration for not holding classes and converting the premises into a COVID designated hospital.
Joined by PG students this morning, they assembled outside the OPD of Sher Kashmir Medical College (SKIMS) Medical College, Srinagar against authorities for failing to resume the normal classes and patient care.
The protesting students while talking to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), said that the SKIMS Medical College authorities have immensely failed to resume normal functioning despite directions from the National Medical Council (NMC), forcing students to suffer.
A protesting MBBS student said that the administration of SKIMS medical college has immensely failed to commence the classes for the students and patient care due to which people are facing difficult times in absence of timely care and surgeries.
A Post Graduate (PG) student part of the protest said that the administration for more than 10 Covid positive patients, has turned the entire hospital into a designated Covid-19 facility, which is entirely unfair.
SR, PG, and UG students have joined the protest today against the administration here to ensure the Covid facility is converted into a non-Covid hospital immediately, he said.
The PG student said that no surgeries were conducted for the past months and people across the Valley are suffering only because not more than 10 Covid patients are enrolled, which is sheer injustice.
Besides Valley people, he said PG, SR, and UG students are suffering equally since there is no IPD, emergency with closed hostels, and no classes.
Citing an example, a PG student said that how can orthopedic and ophthalmology students complete the studies since they’ve not attended a single patient for months now and it’s entirely impossible for them to treat the Covid patients.
He claimed that normally 100 surgeries at the different departments would be undertaken in a month.
He also said that recently (Last Year) the National Medical College (NMC), issued the guidelines to all the medical colleges to start Non-Covid beds but the guildies have been violated by the administration itself.
The protesting students have sought the direct intervention of higher authorities and requested them to resume normal functioning and commence the classwork for students especially the clinical classes. (KNO)

Srinagar, Jan 1: Government has deleted the word ‘State’ from the name of ‘Jammu Kashmir State Board of School Education. Now it will be known as Jammu Kashmir Board of School Education.
Deputy Secretary Administration Central Ghulam Hasan Wani in this regard has issued an order which reads that in pursuance of SO 3465 (E) dated 15-10-2020, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Department of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh affairs) it is hereby ordered for the information and compliance of all the Officers and Sub / Branch Heads of the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education that hence forth all the official communications and correspondences shall be made under the title of “The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education” instead of “The Jammu and Kashmir State Board of School Education”, thus deleting the word “STATE” from its name.”
“ Violation or non-compliance If any, detected in this regard shall attract severe action against the defaulter or defaulters,” the order reads. (KNT)

New Delhi, Jan 1: Continuing a 30-year practice, India and Pakistan on Friday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral arrangement that prohibits the two countries from attacking each other’s atomic facilities.
The two countries exchanged the list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
This was done simultaneously through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad.
“India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list of nuclear installations and facilities, covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities,” the MEA said in a statement.
The exchange of the list came amid frosty ties between the two countries. The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988 and it came into force on January 27, 1991.

The pact mandates the two countries to inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.
This is the 30th consecutive exchange of the list with the first one taking place on January 1, 1992. (Agencies)

57 projects to be dropped
Nasir Azam
Srinagar, Jan 01: The government has pulled up different departments for laxity in completion of languishing projects to be funded from the loan raised by the Jammu & Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Limited (JKIDFC).
A record note of a meeting chaired by Financial Commissioner, Finance department, Arun Kumar Mehta on December 18 reveals that performance of Industries & Commerce Department & Jal Shakti department was found unsatisfactory in execution of works cleared for funding from JKIDFC.
During the meeting, according to the note, Mehta, who is also chairman & Managing Director JKIDFC, pointed out that the performance of I & C department was unsatisfactory and directed it to clarify the same on the file.
The performance Jal Shakti/ Irrigation and Flood Control department also was found below satisfactory by FC Finance, reads the record note.
The chairman also took serious note of non-tendering of projects by Tribal Affairs department and directed it to furnish a proposal for dropping the projects approved by a high-powered committee.
The minutes of the meeting also reveals that departments have identified 57 projects to dropped for funding from JKIDFC.
According to the record note, the Skill Development also submitted that projects approved for funding during 11th meeting of high-powered committee needs to be dropped due to cost escalation in balance cost of the projects.
In 2018, the State Administrative Council (SAC) approved the Jammu and Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (JKIDFC).
The JKIDFC has been authorized to raise a loan not exceeding Rs 8000 crores from various financial Institutions including state/ nationalized banks for completion of these unfunded, languishing projects—(KNO)