New Delhi, Dec 2: India on Wednesday clocked a fresh spike of 36,604 nCoV cases recorded in the past 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry update said.

The overall COVID case tally of the country has almost touched 95 lakhs, with the figure now at 94,99,414, the government data said.

There were 501 more deaths due to pandemic in the past 24 hours across the nation pushing the fatality count till date to 1,38,122.

Taking of the active caseload of Coronavirus , there was a dip of 5,969 since Tuesday and presently , the nation is home to 4,28,644 active cases, as per the data.

Meanwhile, there were 43,062 COVID patients who were cured in the past one day , taking the total recoveries count till date to 89,32,647.

In percentage , active cases are now 4.51 per cent , discharged / cured at 94.03 per cent and the deaths due to COVID are 1.45 per cent of the total case count till date.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research , 14,24,45,949 cumulative samples have been tested till date for COVID 19.

Srinagar, Dec 2: All Vehicles which include private or commercial and which were registered before 31-Dec-2005 will not be allowed to renew fitness and other necessary documents.

All RTOs have been instructed not to issue future documents in such cases. For cancelling the registration number of an old vehicle, owners have to write a letter to the RTO along with the original registration certificate, cut-out of the vehicle’s chassis, and a confirmation letter from the scrapper.

Meanwhile all industrial owners, units, Transport associations, personal and commercial owners have been warned to stop plying their 2005 below vehicles otherwise they will behold responsible if they are transporting or plying seized vehicles on the roads in J&K.

The said order will be implemented on or after 31-Dec-2020 in Jammu and Kashmir as stated by Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

 Asks engineers to ensure uninterrupted power supply during winter

Precious Kashmir News
Anantnag, Dec 2:  Principal Secretary, Power Development and Information Departments, Rohit Kansal, asked the PDD Engineers to optimally utilize the services of available skilled manpower of the department to ensure repair of damaged transformers in a time bound manner. He also directed the concerned to ensure recovery of power tariffs from consumers enabling government to ensure round the clock electricity availability in the districts.

Principal Secretary issued these directions while reviewing the power scenario of Anantnag and Kulgam districts besides assessing status of ongoing projects at a high level meeting held here today.

The division and sub-division level engineers briefed about the power scenario of areas falling within their jurisdictions.

Principal Secretary said that the Government is working hard to ensure adequate power supply to consumers especially during winter months adding that to meet the demand Government is purchasing electricity from other states also.

Rohit Kansal directed the concerned for revising agreements as per the usage and requirement of the consumers.

Instructing engineers to make public the curtailment schedule, Kansal asked them to intensify inspections to check whether electricity is being used by consumers in accordance with the load agreement.

Stressing on sensitization of consumers about illegal usage of power gadgets, Kansal directed the concerned to seize such gadgets where they feel necessary to prevent transformers from getting damaged due to overloading. He also called for installing the power cut devices leaving no choice with the consumer to bypass it, which will help the department to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the consumers.

He asked the engineers to expedite work on ongoing projects and ensure their early completion for the public benefit. He directed the concerned for revising agreements as per the usage and requirement of the consumers.

The meeting was informed that several measures have been taken up to improve the tariff recovery from the consumers and it was assured that the same will be further improved.

It was also given out that this year the carrying capacity of grid stations in South Kashmir has been augmented thereby making the department able to supply 10 percent more electricity compared to corresponding period of previous year.

While taking review of ongoing projects and progress made under various schemes, the meeting was informed that the works taken up in the twin districts under various schemes are at different stages of completion.

Later, the Principal Secretary inspected Nipora Mirbazar Grid Substation to take stock of the augmentation work.

Among others, the meeting was attended by Deputy Commissioner Kulgam, Showkat Aijaz Bhat, Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, K K Sidha, Secretary (Tech) Bashir Ahmad Dar, Chief Engineer (CE) (Distribution) Aijaz Ahmad Dar, CE Transmission Hashmat Qazi, CE Projects Javed Yousuf and CE MY Baba besides, SE Bijbehra, SE Projects ( south circle) and Executive Engineers of different wings of PDD.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 2: Jammu and Kashmir Government has ordered authorities to ensure public services delivery mechanism through online mode only.
“With an aim to streamline and improve public services delivery to the citizens in general and to promote conducive business environment in particular, the Government vide Circular No. 52-GAD of 2018 dated 14.12.2018 has impressed particular services of different departments to be provided through ‘Online Mode Only’,” reads a circular issued by the government. However, deviations with regard to functioning of these services through ‘online mode only’ have been detected, the circular, a copy of which lies with GNS, reads further.
“Some of these services are not functioning appropriately from the designated URLs, while few of these services are conspicuously absent from the online/web domain,” it said, adding, “Accordingly, in order to provide a strengthened and unfettered public service delivery mechanism through online mode only, it is enjoined upon all the concerned Administrative Secretaries to kindly ensure implementation of the referred circular instructions in letter and spirit.”

New Delhi, Dec 2: Honey sold by several major brands in India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup, the environment watchdog CSE claimed Wednesday.
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) food researchers selected 13 top and smaller brands of processed and raw honey being sold in India to check their purity.
They found 77 per cent of the samples adulterated with the addition of sugar syrup. Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests.
“Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test,” the study said.
There was no immediate reply to queries mailed to Dabur, Emami (Zandu) and Patanjali on the CSE findings, while spokespersons for Baidyanath and other companies couldn’t be contacted immediately.
Samples of these brands were first tested at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat.
According to the Centre for Science and Environment, almost all the top brands passed the tests of purity, while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar–it is the basic adulteration using cane sugar.
“But when the same brands were tested using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) – laboratory tests currently being used globally to check for such modified sugar syrups – almost all big and small brands failed. Out of the 13 brands tests, only three passed the NMR test, which was done by a specialised laboratory in Germany,” it claimed.
“What we found was shocking. It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India. Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected,” said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team.
The CSE also claimed that it tracked down Chinese trade portals which were advertising fructose syrup that can bypass tests to check adulteration. It also found that the same Chinese companies that advertised this fructose syrup that can beat C3 and C4 tests were also exported to India.
CSE director general Sunita Narain said they then conducted an undercover operation to find out more.
“Chinese companies informed CSE that even if 50-80 per cent of the honey is adulterated with syrup, it would pass all stipulated tests. A sample of the syrup that can bypass tests was then sent by the Chinese company as paint pigment to get through customs,” she claimed.
“We are consuming honey – more of it to fight the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not make us well. It will, in fact, make us even more vulnerable. On the other hand, what should also concern us is that the loss of bees will lead to a collapse of our food system – bees are critical for pollination; if honey is adulterated, then not only do we lose our health, but also the productivity of our agriculture,” she said.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 2: Days after several big names were made public involved in Roshni Scam, the authorities in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district has served notice to a poor family, asking them to immediately vacate the place, which according to the owner has been allotted to him through proper and legal procedure.
According to reports, Farooq Ahmad Jan, a resident of Nazukh Mohalla area of Anantnag district, said that he was allotted two marlas under Roshni Act for which he has also deposited Rs 95,000 as lavvy in the year 2007 when there was congress regime in Jammu and Kashmir.
Jan further stated that he has followed each and every procedure then to get the land, adding that he has built his house there on the land and also some shops, which is on rent and thus has become a sole source of income for them.
He added that in case the land will be snatched from him, he will not only loose his residential house, but the source of income too. “I have not done anything illegal. I have followed every procedure announced by the then government and even paid mandatory 60 per cent of rate fixed by the government for the piece of land,” Jan said.
Jan added that the district administration has now served him a notice, asking him to vacate the place within a week or two, adding that “I tried to visit the concerned Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office but couldn’t meet the officials as they remained busy in elections.”
The poor man from Anantnag, who was a driver before pandemic, said that “we want the authorities to look into it thoroughly. I am ready to cooperate if I have illegally occupied even an inch of the land else than what I have got through procedure in 2007.” (KNO)

Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Dec 2: In a brazen violation of government orders, various schools in Kashmir continue to charge exorbitant admission fee from the parents for their wards.
Parents from different areas alleged that schools are demanding a hefty sum of money when they went to admit their wards.
“A few days before, for the admission of my child, I approached two leading schools in our area. One asked me to pay Rs 40,000 while others demanded Rs 30,000 as admission fee,” Gulzar Ahmad, who is a resident of Anantnag, said. “If there is government order not to charge an admission fee, why it is not implemented on the ground.”
Shakeel Ahmad another parent from Ganderbal said that education of children is must but private schools need to show some mercy as everyone has faced the brunt of financial crunch from last two years.
“Schools who are violating the norms must be dealt with strictly,” he said.
Meanwhile parents also alleged that private schools are asking students to join regular classes violating social distancing norms amid Covid-19 pandemic.
They said that most of the schools have started functioning normally and only transport of the schools has been kept is a suspended form.
“My son is studying in a school which is 4 kms from our residence and every day I have to drop him at 10:30 am, and wait up to 1 pm to take him back home,” Tanveer Ahmad, from Shopian said.
“If there are directions that student must be given classes through on-line mode, then how schools are allowed to function normally.” he said, “And if they have been allowed to function normally then they must be allowed to use school buses as well.” (KNO)