Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Dec 1: Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba, while chairing a high-level meeting, asked all the States and Union Territories to prepare and maintain a database of the prioritized group of people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine during the initial stages.
Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam, and Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh along with Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs participated in the meeting.
Financial Commissioner, Health & Medical Education Department, Principal Secretary, Home, and MD, National Health Mission, were also present.
While reviewing the public health response to COVID-19, Cabinet Secretary informed that at present, 3 companies are frontrunners in developing COVID-19 vaccines in India- which are currently in the third phase of clinical trials and will be shortly available for usage. As such, he asked the States/UTs to develop respective databases to prioritize various groups of people based on their exposure to the disease, starting from healthcare workers both in government and private establishments, frontline workers including armed forces, home guards, police, volunteers, municipal workers, etc, the prioritized age group of persons above the age of 50 years, and persons with co-morbidities.
It was informed that in India, vaccines are being administered against 12 preventable diseases under the prestigious ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP), which is one of the largest immunization programmes in the world. Therefore, with a strong network of 28,947 chain points for storage and distribution of vaccines, COVID-19 vaccine distribution too will be carried out in a hassle-free and time-bound manner.
To further ease the COVID vaccine-related burden on existing medical infrastructure, the States/UTs were asked to develop a multi-level coordination mechanism through State/District/Block level Committees which will be mandated to monitor and coordinate the smooth delivery of the COVID vaccine. This includes arrangements for site readiness for installation of the additional cold chain equipment, plans for cold chain, and dry storage space for vaccines and syringes, facilities for transportation of vaccines at all levels of State/UT, and procurement of ancillary items like hub cutters and waste bags for bio-medical waste management.
The Cabinet Secretary said that efforts should also be directed to minimize the impact of COVID-vaccination on routine immunization and advised States/UTs to identify potential vaccinators among MBBS/BDS doctors/interns, staff nurses, auxiliary nursing midwives, pharmacists, and retired persons for organizing COVID-vaccination drives.
It was also informed that to facilitate coordination between government authorities, vaccinating agencies, and the general public, a digital platform for COVID-19 vaccination delivery named ‘CO-WIN’ is also being developed. The said portal will be supplemented with a mobile application to facilitate beneficiaries in getting registered; receive SMS alerts regarding the vaccination, and an electronic QR based vaccination certificate carrying all the vaccine-related information.
The Cabinet Secretary urged States/UTs to ensure a multi-sectoral response to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine by involving all the government departments, NGOs, NCC, and other volunteers, besides maintaining an open and transparent communication with the public to curb misinformation and rumors.

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, Dec 1: Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam today chaired the maiden meeting of the UT Steering Committee to monitor the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccination. The Committee reviewed the arrangements being made to ensure hassle-free and time-bound delivery of COVID-vaccines across the Union Territory.

Administrative Secretaries of the departments of Health & Medical Education, Home, Social Welfare, Housing & Urban Development, Information, Transport, Rural Development, Tribal Affairs, besides Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) and officers from the Army, CRPF and Northern Railways participated in the meeting.

The meeting was informed that various COVID-19 vaccines are currently in the third phase of clinical trials and will be shortly available for usage. As such, the Health & Medical Education Department was asked to do the preparatory planning beforehand, and compile the database of potential vaccinators, prioritized groups of beneficiaries to be administered the vaccine in its initial stages starting from healthcare workers both in government and private establishments, frontline workers including armed forces, home guards, police, volunteers, municipal workers, etc, the prioritized age group of persons above the age of 50 years, and persons with co-morbidities.

The H&ME Department was asked to work out the human resource requirements for organizing dedicated COVID-vaccination drives and to further ensure that they do not compromise the existing arrangements for COVID-19 testing and routine immunization drives. The Department was advised to engage additional vaccinators among MBBS/BDS doctors/interns, staff nurses, auxiliary nursing midwives, pharmacists, and retired persons, besides training potential vaccinators.

The Department was further asked to develop a robust database to assess auxiliary requirements such as additional cold chain equipment, hub cutters and waste bags for bio-medical waste management and prepare plans for cold chain installation sites, dry storage sites for vaccines and syringes, and facilities for transportation of vaccines at district and block levels,

To effectively deliver the vaccines at the grass-root level, Chief Secretary impressed upon greater coordination between the frontline workers of various departments including health, social welfare, school education, rural development, and housing and urban development.

The Chief Secretary also emphasized the need of evolving a multi-sectoral response to the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine by involving NGOs, NCC, and other volunteers, besides maintaining open and transparent communication through a proactive IEC strategy to curb misinformation and rumors.

It was also informed that to facilitate coordination between government authorities, vaccinating agencies, and the general public, a digital platform for COVID-19 vaccination delivery named ‘CO-WIN’ is also being developed. The said portal will be supplemented with a mobile application to facilitate beneficiaries in getting registered; receive SMS alerts regarding the vaccination and an electronic QR based vaccination certificate carrying all the vaccine-related information.

Chennai, Dec 1: A Chennai volunteer whose allegations of adverse effects during the Oxford vaccine trials have led to a 100-crore lawsuit by Serum Institute of India (SII), lost an American project and has found it difficult to even make simple online payments, his wife has said.
The Adar Poonawalla-led Serum Institute said in a statement today that the Oxford coronavirus vaccine is “safe and immunogenic”. It also defended its legal notice to the volunteer, saying it wanted to “safeguard the reputation of the company which is being unfairly maligned.”

The volunteer’s wife denied the charge that there was any motive, financial or otherwise, in their legal notice to the vaccine-maker in November. The 40-year-old was a volunteer for the third phase of the Covid vaccine trial and was administered a dose on October 1. The family has claimed ₹ 5 crore as compensation.

“Our primary demand was to bring this to the notice of people. This vaccine is being called the option for India. We can’t stay quiet. We could have sold our silence, we could have just sent a notice and gained something…But our hearts wouldn’t let us do that,” the woman told NDTV on phone from Chennai.

She described her husband, a marketing professional, as a well-informed, creative person.

“His ability to write, present things in a creative manner were his plus points. Now he is unable to do his work,” she said, adding that though he was better, he still faced problems doing simple tasks.

“Even After two weeks, simple things like online payments…he asks me to do. He never does that. He got a good project during the pandemic; it was an American project that started on October 1. Apparently he has lost that. Because of his condition the clients have moved back. They wanted their work to be done quickly.”
The couple’s concern is that the trials were allowed to continue even after the volunteer complained.
“Our question was, why didn’t they halt the trial when such an adverse reaction was seen? At least until they were 100 per cent sure? How could they administer vaccine again to volunteers before informing them,” she said.
Serum has called the volunteer’s allegations “malicious and misconceived”.
“The COVISHIELD vaccine is safe and immunogenic. The incident with the Chennai volunteer though highly unfortunate was in no way induced by the vaccine and Serum Institute of India is sympathetic with the volunteer’s medical condition,” Serum Institute said in its statement.
The company said the Principal Investigator of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board and the Ethics Committee had “independently cleared and reckoned it as a non-related issue to the vaccine trial”.
“We would want to assure everyone that the vaccine won’t be released for mass use unless it is proven immunogenic, and safe. Taking into consideration the complexities and existing misnomers about vaccination and immunisation; the legal notice was sent therefore to safeguard the reputation of the company which is being unfairly maligned,” it said.

New Delhi, Nov, 30: While six Prime Ministers attended the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit meeting on Monday, Pakistan was represented by their Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs.
The SCO Member States of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting at the level of Prime Ministers. It was chaired by India’s Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.
India put sharp focus on creating three new pillars of cooperation among Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states during the course of its chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2020: Startups and Innovation, Science and Technology and Traditional Medicine.
In virtual briefing after conclusion of the 19th Summit of SCO Council of Heads of Government, Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup, said that India also proposed many other concrete initiatives.
“India has offered to create and Chair a new Special Working Group on Startups and Innovation and to set up a new Expert Working Group on Cooperation in Traditional Medicine. India has also organized in the virtual format, the first-ever SCO Young Scientists Conclave from November 24 to 28 in which more than 200 young scientists participated,’’ he said in his opening remarks.
The first-ever Consortium of SCO Economic Think Tanks was held on August 20-21 this year and the first-ever SCO Startup Forum was held on October 27. In the B2B format, FICCI has convened the first SCO Business Conclave (23 Nov) with special emphasis on Cooperation in MSMEs through the national chapters of the SCO Business Council.
On the cultural-humanitarian side, India has implemented Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcements made at the Bishkek Summit at the SCO Heads of State in 2019 that were aimed to bring into sharper focus our millennia-old shared civilizational heritage. These include hosting the first-ever SCO Digital Exhibition on Shared Buddhist Heritage by the National Museum, that has been inaugurated on Monday and the translation of 10 classics of Indian regional literature into Russian and Chinese languages.
“India has also proposed to host the SCO Food Festival in 2021. The underlying thought in these proposals was to move towards creating a shared cultural identity of the SCO region and has found full support from SCO Member States,’’ Secretary (West) said.
India considers the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as an important regional organization to promote cooperation in the areas of peace, security, trade, economy and culture and is committed to deepening cooperation with SCO by playing a proactive, positive and constructive role in the organization.
With the successful conclusion of its Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government, India hopes to further strengthen greater trade, economic and cultural cooperation within SCO by putting human beings at the center of SCO activities and to foster greater peace and prosperity in the region.
India also expressed full support to Kazakhstan as the next incoming chair of the SCO Council of Heads of Government in 2021. The meeting ended with the adoption of the Joint Communique.
The Summit of SCO Council of Heads of Government is held annually at the level of Prime Ministers of SCO and deals primarily with the trade and economic agenda of the organization.
This is the first time that a Summit-level Meeting was held under India’s Chairmanship, since it gained full-membership of the organization in 2017. India assumed the Chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government on November 2 last year as per rotation from the previous Chair – Uzbekistan and completed its year-long tenure with the Summit-level meeting which was chaired by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
The SCO is a regional grouping of eight Member States- India, Russia, China, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The SCO also has four Observer States – Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia.
Apart from the SCO Member States, the four Observer States of SCO also participated at a high-level – including the President of Afghanistan, the First Vice President of Iran, the Prime Minister of Belarus and the Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia. Turkmenistan was invited as a Special Guest of the Host as per past practice and was represented by the Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The two bodies of SCO were represented by the SCO Secretary General and the Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS). The Chairman of the SCO Business Council and the Chairman of the SCO Interbank Association were also present.

Poonch, Dec 1: A Border Security Force officer was killed in Pakistan firing in Balakote Sector of Poonch district along Line of Control in Jammu region.
Official sources told KNT that an Assistant Sub Inspector was killed after sustaining bullet injuries in Tarkundi area of Poonch.
The slain officer was identified as P.Jatha of 59 Battalion BSF.
Since November 13, at least 8 soldiers and 2 BSF personnel have been killed in Pakistan firing along LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.
On November 13, four soldiers, a BSF man and 4 civilians were killed in Pakistan shelling in different locations of North Kashmir.
On November 21, a soldier was killed in cross border firing in Lam Sector of Nowshera Rajouri.
On November 26, a JCO was killed in Pakistan firing in Poonch and on November 27, two soldiers were killed in Pakistan firing along LoC in Sunderbani Rajouri. (KNT)

Srinagar, Dec 1: With the approval of Competent Authority, following IPS officers of the Jammu Kashmir Cadre are hereby transferred with immediate effect and further orders or till final allocation by the Central Government under Section 88 (4) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, a government order stated.
It said that Dr Vinod Kumar, IPS( JK:2011) has been transferred  from Ladakh UT to J&K, while Aniyat Ali Choudhary, (JK:2017) JK UT has been moved  to Ladakh. (PTK)

My name being dragged unnecessarily: Shah Faesal

Precious Kashmir News

Srinagar, Dec 1: Ex-JNU student leader and a former leader of Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Movement Shehla Rashid on Tuesday termed the allegations leveled against her by her own father, Abdul Rashid Shora as baseless.

Reacting to the allegations in a tweet she said: “Many of you must have come across a video of my biological father making wild allegations against me and my mum & sis. To keep it short and straight, he’s a wife-beater and an abusive, depraved man. We finally decided to act against him, and this stunt is a reaction to that.”

“Whatever allegations have been made against me by my father are baseless,” Shehla said.

She added, “First of all, I don’t regard it as an allegation because it is like a fictional story. It would have been an allegation if there was any proof or document. It is nonsense and false.”

She said, on the contrary, she had given a statement on how her father has been involved in violence against her, her mother and sister.

Meanwhile, Shah Faesal in a series of tweets lamented that his name is being dragged unnecessarily into the controversy. “As far as my name has been dragged into the family dispute of a former colleague, I want to make it clear that I have neither met nor consulted any of the terror accused persons, directly or indirectly, not to speak of seeking their support or benefitting from them.”

In another tweet he said: “While I know the perils of public life, I feel extremely sad to see my name being dragged into something with which I am not even remotely associated. I will be glad to go before Jammu Kashmir Police, NIA CBI, ED and assist in the investigation if required.”
It’s in place to mention here that Shehla’s father, Abdul Rashid Shora, has alleged that he is facing a life threat to life from his daughter.

In a letter to the Jammu and Kashmir DGP, Shora said, “I am under a constant threat to life from my daughter Shehla Rashid Shora who is supported by my elder daughter Asma and wife Zubaida as well as her security guard Sakib Ahmad. This started in 2017 when Shehla all of a sudden joined Kashmir politics.”
“I was called by one Zahoor Vatali—arrested in a militant funding case under UAPA in August 2017—and former MLA Rasheed Engineer at his residence in Srinagar in June2017. They offered me Rs 3 crore for Shehla to join them,” he claimed.

Abdul Rashid said that he had asked his daughter not to take this money because it was coming from illegal channels and would be used for unlawful activities. But his daughter later told him that she took the money and threatened him not to disclose anything about this transaction to anybody as it can put his life in danger, he claimed.

He in his letter has alleged that anti-national activities were going on at his house and his daughter even tried to throw him out requesting the DGP to provide him with security cover.

Shora also mentioned the name of former bureaucrat turned politician Shah Faesal and jailed politician Er Rasheed in his letter.

Constitutes committees at different levels; UT level monitoring panel to be headed by CS

Nasir Azam
Srinagar, Dec 1: The Jammu & Kashmir government on Tuesday set the ball rolling for implementation of Forest Rights Act-2006 in the Union Territory.
To begin with, the administration has constituted a Union Territory level monitoring committee, district level committee(s) and sub-divisional level committee(s) for implementation of law in the UT.
According to an order in possession of KNO the UT level monitoring committee would be headed by chief Secretary and comprise of senior bureaucrats and officials from Forest, Revenue and Tribal Affairs departments.
The committee is mandated to devise criteria and indicators for monitoring the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights.
The panel has also been empowered to monitor the process of recognition, verification and vesting of forest rights in the UT;

It will meet at least once in three months to monitor the process of recognition, verification and vesting of forest rights, consider and address the field level problems, and furnish a quarterly report to the Central Government on their assessment regarding the status of claims.
It has been empowered take appropriate actions on receipt of a notice against the concerned authorities in terms of Section 8 of the Act.
According to the order, the district level committees would be respectively headed by concerned deputy commissioners.
The district-level committees will ensure that the requisite information under clause (b) of Rule 6 has been provided to Gram Sabha or Forest Rights Committee.
These panels will also examine whether all claims, especially those of primitive tribal groups, pastoralists and nomadic tribes, have been addressed keeping in mind the objectives of the Act.
These panel will also consider and finally approve the claims and record of forest rights prepared by the sub-divisional level committees.
They have also been empowered to hear petitions from persons aggrieved by the orders of the sub-divisional level committees.
The sub-divisional level committees headed by sub-divisional level officer of Revenue department will provide information to each Gram Sabha about their duties and duties of holder of forest rights and others towards protection of wildlife, forest and biodiversity with reference to critical flora and fauna which need to be conserved and protected.

It will also provide forest and revenue maps and electoral rolls to the Gram Sabha or the Forest Rights Committee.