Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 13: A boat carrying BJP activists and some video-journalists capsized when they were returning from an election rally organised for District Development Council (DDC) elections in the world famous Dal Lake in the summer capital, Srinagar, on Sunday.
Official sources said one of the boats, returning from the rally led by Union Minister Anurag Thakur, capsized at Ghat no 17 of Dal Lake.
However, they said everyone, including BJP workers and three video-journalists, were rescued by other people present at the spot. “The cameras of the video-journalists were damaged,” they added.
They said besides Thakur, senior BJP leader and National spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain and BJP’s J&K incharge Tarun Chug were also present in the rally.

Jammu, Dec 13: The Directorate of School Education, Jammu, organised a webinar on “Tobacco Free Educational Institutions” Guidelines, here on Sunday.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director School Education, Jammu, Anuradha Gupta said that due to the social acceptability and it being legal with certain restrictions, people are unable to realise the serious negative consequences of tobacco use.
“Drinking and smoking by girls/females should not be viewed as a sign of empowerment,” she added.
The Webinar was the initiative of Counselling Cell of the Directorate, in collaboration with Directorate of Health Services Jammu, through virtual session to generate awareness among the school teachers and other staff members regarding the ill effects of tobacco use and other related issues with the key purpose of accelerating the implementation of Tobacco Free Educational Institutions guidelines.
Director School Education, Jammu, Anuradha Gupta also advised the stakeholders to reach out at the ground- level to make an idea or a policy implementation sustainable.
She reminded the students to immerse themselves in positive passions instead and channelise their energies towards becoming the ambassadors of best practices like Fit India, Career Counselling, Cyber security etc.
Ms Gupta also called upon the parents and teachers to, “be the role models rather than mere preachers who act contrary to their own advice”.
Such campaigns should include all the aspects like prevention, education, counselling and vigilance by parents and teachers. School heads must discuss corrective measures during monthly Parent Teacher meets (PTM’s).
Dr Mridula Singh, Divisional Nodal Officer for NTCP, who was the resource person of the event, discussed tobacco-related issues in detail including the background of tobacco control, burden of tobacco use in India, overview of National Tobacco Control Program (NTCP) and COPTA 2003 with focus on the guidelines about tobacco-free educational institutions.
Romesh Kumar Sharma, Head Counselling Cell, termed the Tobacco consumption as a form of behavioural issue, which needs behavioural modification techniques.
He added that equipping the faculty counsellors with counselling and cessation counselling skills can help make institutions tobacco free.

New Delhi, Dec 13: BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday said that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
In a tweet in Hindi, the BJP president said, ‘On getting the initial symptoms of corona, I got the test
done, which has been reported positive. My health is fine, I am following all the guidelines in home isolation on the advice of doctors. My request is, those who have come to my contact in the last few days, please isolate themselves and get tested.’

Nadda had recently visited West Bengal for a two-day tour to Kolkata, as part of the 120-day tour of the state of West Bengal, where the Assembly election is due next year.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 13: In a major relief to the students of J&K who had raised concerns regarding the online examination due to slow internet speed, Jamia Milla Islamia has put the odd semester/ year end exam on hold.
Jamia Millia Islamia(central university) New Delhi on its official Twitter handle wrote, “The VC @ JmIU_Official has put the odd semster/ year end exam through online proctored Mode on hold considering various issues raised by students.”
Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti thanked management of the university.
” Thank you for taking our concerns into consideration. I am sure the students here will be relieved.”(KNS)

Bhadohi: A 55-year-old man was allegedly killed by his wife and elder daughter-in-law in a village in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh for having an illicit relation with his younger daughter-in-law, police said on Sunday.
The incident happened in a village under Koirana police station of the district on late Saturday night when the man’s wife and their elder daughter-in-law attacked him and slashed his throat with a knife, said Bhadohi Superintendent of Police Ram Badan Singh.

The SP said the man was rushed to a hospital but was declared “brought dead”.

The man had four sons, all living in Mumbai as migrant workers, the SP said, adding two of them were married and their wives were living in the village with their in-laws.

The man had developed an illicit relationship with his younger daughter-in-law, and this was vehemently objected to by his wife and elder daughter-in-law, who had sent the younger one to her parents’ house.

Infuriated over this, some time back, the man had attacked his elder daughter-in-law and damaged her eyes, said police, adding he had also turned her and his wife out of the main house, forcing them to live in another house some 100 meters away in the same street.
Around four-five days ago, the man had brought back his younger daughter-in-law from her parents’ place to live with him, said police.
The man’s wife and his elder daughter-in-law last night barged into the man’s house and attacked him, following which the younger daughter-in-law fled the house and reached a police station where she told police that her mother-in-law and sister-in-law had attacked her and her father-in-law.
As the police reached the man’s house, they found him lying in a pool of blood with his neck slit open, said police, adding he was rushed to the district hospital but could not be saved.
The SP said a preliminary probe into the matter has revealed that the victim had illicit relation with his younger daughter-in-law.
The police have registered a murder case and informed all four sons of the victim, said the SP.

Panel to suggest measures to help reduce risk to life, properties during disasters
Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 13: The University of Kashmir has constituted a high-level working group, headed by Vice-Chancellor Prof Talat Ahmad, to share amongst stakeholders all disaster-related knowledge and information generated in the varsity to help devise effective disaster management strategies and frameworks across the mountainous region of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.
This is one of the several working groups being headed by Talat to help the government and society in developing strategies aimed at reducing risk to people and infrastructure in the eventuality of any disaster.
The 18-member working group comprises top-notch administrators from the UT government, civil society members and eminent academics and researchers from University of Kashmir and other relevant institutions.
Talat said the academia, in partnership with other institutions, will continue to initiate and strengthen measures so that people of the region, despite being highly vulnerable to disasters, can manage disasters with least costs to life and infrastructure.
Previously, the VC said, the University of Kashmir has been actively involved in suggesting measures for disaster management in other states like Uttarakhand during the 2013 disaster in Kedarnath.
Prof Shakil Romshoo, Dean of Research at KU—a member of the working group—said the University has generated a plethora of knowledge about various disasters that should inform policymaking on disaster management in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
“The University has the expertise and tools to help the UT government in developing robust disaster risk-reduction plans to respond better to disaster emergencies and to minimise loss of life and property in case of any eventuality,” he said.
The panel, according to its Terms of Reference (ToRs), will also suggest a mechanism to build a voluntary pool of disaster management activists in all institutions/agencies for an effective response system on the ground, alongside framing an action plan for building a new generation of disaster-conscious citizenry to eventually establish a culture of disaster preparedness among the people.
The working group members include CEO, Economic Reconstruction Agency J&K; Vice-Chairman, SDA, J&K Government; Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control Department; Chief Engineer, Border Roads Organisation (Beacon); Amir Ali, Director, Disaster Management Department, J&K; Sonam Lotus, Director, IMD, Srinagar; Dr G M Dar, Director Disaster Management Institute, IMPA; Prof A R Dar, Department of Civil Engineering NIT Srinagar; Khurshid A Ganai, former IAS officer, J&K (civil society); Prof Shamim A Shah, HoD Geography Department, KU; Prof Ghulam Jeelani, HoD, Earth Sciences, KU; Dr Peerzada Amin, Department of Sociology KU; Dr Salima Jan, Director EMRC KU; Dr Mussavir Ahmad, Coordinator NSS KU, and Dr Rakesh Chandra, Department of Earth Sciences KU (Member Secretary).

New Delhi, Dec 13: The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has found a drastic rise in obesity among children under five years of age in 20 of the 22 states where the study was conducted, with experts attributing it to lack of physical activity and unhealthy food habits.
According to the NHFS-5, several states and Union Territories, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Mizoram, Tripura, Lakshadweep, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, have registered several folds increase in the percentage of obesity among children below five years of age in comparison to NFHS-4 conducted between 2015 and 2016.
Only Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu registered a drop in the number of overweight children under five years of age, the data showed.
About 13.4 per cent children under the age of five were found to be obese in Ladakh which was highest among the 22 states and Union Territories surveyed, followed by Lakshadweep at 10.5 per cent, Mizoram 10 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir, and Sikkim 9.6 per cent each.
Not just children, rise in obesity has even been recorded in adults in the latest survey in comparison to NFHS-4.
According to the survey data, 16 states and Union Territories registered a rise in obesity among women while 19 states and UTs recorded an increase in obesity among men.
Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded the highest percentage of obesity among women at 38 per cent. Also, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep recorded the highest percentage of obesity among women at over 40 per cent.
Men and women were counted as obese whose body mass index was found to be over or equal to 25.0 kg/m2 while children’s obesity was counted in terms of weight-for-height.
Healthcare experts have attributed the rise in obesity to unhealthy food choices and lack of physical activities among children and even adults.
Sheila Vir, a public health nutrition expert and founder director of Public Health Nutrition and Development Centre, said there is also lack of awareness on what are good food habits.
Also, high-fat and high-sugar foods are easily available and so there is higher consumption of it, she said.
“We have a double burden of undernutrition, malnutrition and overnutrition occurring together. So, I think what to feed a child is what we are going wrong in,” Vir said.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, she also raised concern over the rise in obesity.
“There might be an increase in obesity among children in view of COVID-19 pandemic as after closure of schools, there was lack of physical activity among children and even in adults in some cases,” she said.
Dr. Khan Amir Maroof, Professor at Department of Community Medicine, University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital termed the rise in obesity a “very disturbing sign”.
“Obesity is a manifestation of what is rapidly changing in our environment. Of late, we see trends which increase the risk of developing obesity. Environmental factors, such as availability and consumption of junk foods, poor complementary feeding, lack of outdoor activity, and increased screen time on may be the reason for this trend,” he said.
“For children, we need to flag screen time as it has multi-dimensional effects on children, obesity, being one of them. The focus has been on breastfeeding, but now it’s time that complementary feeding is also focused upon,” Dr Maroof suggested.
About the repercussions of obesity among children, he said non-communicable diseases can develop among obese children earlier than others.
“There are higher chances for them being bullied in schools, neglected or shamed by peers, which lead to mental health problems among them,” he said.
Among adults, he said more consumption of ready-to-eat foods, increase in screen time with the 24-hour access to web content, and lack of outdoor spaces seem to be hitting adults with obesity.
He suggested that children, with more stress on complementary feeding practices in the community, and reducing screen time, can be the immediate actions.
“Counselling of breastfeeding mothers of children around 4 months of age should focus on counselling on complementary feeding. We find that all mothers know ‘what’ to give to the child but ‘how much’, ‘when’ and in ‘what consistency’ need to be explained with respect to complementary feeding. Intervention strategies to reduce screen time are needed,” he said.
The NFHS results of 17 states and five Union Territories have been released now as phase-one. The phase-two results covering other states will be released next year, the health ministry had said.
The present NFHS was conducted on 6.1 lakh sample households, involving household-level interviews to collect information on population, health, family planning and nutrition related indicators.