Nasir Azam    

Srinagar, Oct 16: The appointment of Indian Forest Service Officer(IFS) BK Singh as administrative secretary of key School Education department may have triggered curiosity in Jammu & Kashmir but he is not new to the education sector.

Sources in administration of Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that Singh’s experience in helming an autonomous institution managing affairs of more than 600 schools prompted the government to assign him charge of the department which is usually used by IAS officers.

“He has held Joint Secretary level position in the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) before returning to his parent cadre earlier this year,” they said.

The officer of 1989 batch served as commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) for five- year period (2015-2020) before returning to J&K.

The NVS, an autonomous organization under ministry of Education and Literacy, runs more than 600 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in different states and union territories.

JNVs are fully residential and co-educational schools affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, with classes from VI to XII standard. These institutions are specifically tasked with finding talented children in rural areas of India and providing them with an education equivalent to the best residential school system, without regard to their families’ socio-economic condition.

In May this year, he was also assigned the additional charge of chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in May this year.

Singh, an officer of 1989 batch, is the 7th senior most IFS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre.

At present, Sanjay Kumar Singh, an IFS officer of J&K cadre, is working as joint secretary in Union Education Ministry.

Sajid Raina

Bandipora, Oct 16: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) man was killed while three others were injured after a vehicle they were travelling in met with an accident in Nusoo area of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday morning.

An official told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that a gypsy of 03-BN CRPF skipped off the road near Nusoo area, resulting in on spot death of one CRPF personnel and injuries to three others.

He said that the injured were shifted to District Hospital Bandipora for treatment.

The official identified the deceased CRPF man as Naresh Kumar. The injured were identified as Ravi Raj, Ankit Kumar Gupta and Vinod Kumar.

Meanwhile, a police official said that a case under relevant sections of law has been registered in Police Station Bandipora.

Anantnag shopkeeper arrested
Srinagar, Oct 16: Cyber Police Kashmir on Friday claimed to have busted a fake job scam operated through Facebook and arrested one person from South Kashmir’s Anantnag district in this regard.
In a statement Cyber Police Station Kashmir Zone, Srinagar received a written complaint from one lady (name withheld) hailing from Baramulla district of North Kashmir, alleging therein that she has been cheated by unknown Facebook user operating multiple fake Facebook accounts and impersonating as Project Officer in ICDS on the pretext of providing job to her.
“On receipt of this complaint, a case under FIR number 23/2020 under relevant sections of law was registered in Cyber Police Station and investigation was set into motion. During the course of investigation, the said unknown Facebook user was found operating more than 15 fake Facebook accounts (male & female) and had fraudulently obtained a number of SIM cards from the victims, which he was using to cheat and deceive the female victims especially young and destitute girls,” the statement said.
It added that the accused by his vicious and wicked plans has grabbed lakhs of rupees from the victims on the pretext of providing them jobs.
“The modus operandi of the accused include creation of fake Facebook accounts by using profile pictures of high profile dignitaries mostly associated with politics and television and sending friend requests to the young girls who were allured by the profiles of the accused and would often chat with the accused who used to impress them with his flagitious activities and promises of offering jobs to them,” police said.
The statement added that he made them believe that he could help them in getting jobs and consequently coerced them to pay money. “The accused also used to compel the young girls to share their objectionable photos and videos and using the same for blackmailing. He would made victims transfer money not into his personal account but in the accounts of other victims who were cheated in the same manner and subsequently used to collect the amount by sending some other person(s) to avoid himself getting exposed,” the statement further reads.
It added that the accused used to frequently change his mobile phones and SIM cards and create new Facebook accounts on the name of high posted Govt employees and made victims believe that they too have been provided jobs by him.
“During the course of investigation and with strenuous efforts and rigorous analysis of his cyber signatures/footprints at different cyber platforms, the experts of Cyber Police station Kashmir were able to trace and identify the accused. He was identified as Mohammad Hussain Mir @ Bitta Morray, son of Late Ghulam Qadir Mir of Lazibal, KP Road Anantnag, a shopkeeper by profession and has been arrested,” police said.
During further investigation, police said the accused has been found to have used various devices and has cheated more than 100 destitute and young girls belonging to Kashmir as well as Jammu division who were in desperate need of government jobs.
“During questioning, the accused person admitted that he was inspired by a famous TV serial “Crime Patrol” and he learnt the modus operandi of social media crimes by watching the said serial. Further, one accomplice of the accused who used to provide fake SIM cards to the accused was also arrested. More arrests in the case are expected,” police said.
Meanwhile, police appealed to people to be aware of such online job scams where the fraudsters pretend to be Government Officers and high profile dignitaries.
“Moreover, public is advised neither to accept any friendship request on social media platforms from unknown persons nor share their personal details including photographs and videos with unknown social media users as these details could be used by these fake users/fraudsters to cheat/blackmail people,” police added.

New Delhi, Oct 15: Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said he would not wish to “predict” the outcome of the ongoing discussions between India and China regarding the border dispute at Ladakh. “The discussions are going on. It is a work in progress and the first rule of my business is – don’t predict what is still going on,” the minister said at the Bloomberg India Economic Forum a day after the seventh round of commander-level talks.
When pressed to respond on the issue, the minister said, “What is going on is something confidential between us and China and we will see how it plays out”.
A resolution to the situation in Ladakh – where India has been pressing for total disengagement, de-escalation and restoration of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to April — has so far proved elusive.

China not only left the disengagement process – started after the National Security Advisor-level talks — halfway, but also undertook provocative actions to change the status quo on ground through fresh transgressions.
Not just the border area, the Chinese government had also raised objection to the inauguration of a series of bridges in Ladakh.
Today, the foreign ministry again issued a loud and clear message to China.
“The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have been, are, and would remain an integral part of India. China has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal matters. We hope that countries will not comment on India’s internal matters, as much as they expect the same of others,” the ministry said.
Last month, following Beijing’s assertion of its position on the Line of Actual Control or LAC, India said it comprehensively rejects Chinese claims on its location in Ladakh. The 1959 claim made by Beijing was not mutually agreed upon, India reminded China.
The different perceptions about the LAC were at the bottom of the repeated flare-ups at the border where “the Chinese and Indian perceptions of LAC overlap”, Union minister Rajnath Singh had told the Lok Sabha last month.
Today, Jaishankar said the relation between India and China had improved following signing of a series of agreements since 1993 on maintaining peace and tranquility along the border. (NDTV)