‘No leader under house arrest in J&K, 223 persons under preventive detention’
New Delhi: Internet restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir are in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, the Central Government told Parliament on Sunday, adding that the throttled speeds are enough for digital education and public health services especially critical amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“The internet services are already available in Kashmir on fixed line and that too without any speed restrictions as well as 2G speed mobile data services are also operational since 24th January 2020. Restrictions on accessing social media sites have also been lifted from March onwards,” Minister of State for Home GK Reddy informed Lok Sabha in a written reply.
“The 2G mobile internet speed is not an impediment in COVID control measures including dissemination of information to general public as well as health workers. E-learning apps and education and e-learning websites of the government are accessible over 2G internet for downloading e-books and other study material,” he said.
He also added that high-speed 4G mobile data services have started in Ganderbal and Udhampur districts.
In another reply, the Home Minister also set said that even though no leader is under house arrest in Jammu and Kashmir, but 223 persons are under “preventive detention”.
“At present there are no restrictions on movement but for security advisories to maintain the law and order situation and no person is under house arrest in JK for reasons not related to public health guidelines,” Reddy said.
According to the government, there are no restrictions on movement of any individual including protectees of the Peoples Democratic Party or PDP. “Considering the law and order and security situation of particular area, it is imperative that prior intimation is given by the protected persons regarding their movements,” Reddy informed Lok Sabha.

New Delhi, Sep 20:  The Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed two farm sector’s Bill — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020– amid massive uproar by the Opposition.

Lok Sabha has already passed these two Bills on September 17.

Relying the debate on these two Bills, the Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar  said that soon after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014, decided to double the income of the farmers and initiated slew of measures in the this direction.

Mr Tomar assured all Members that system to fix  Minimum Support Price (MSP)  for food grain will not be abolished through these Bill for which the Opposition was protesting.

He further said that the UPA Government could not implement the recommendations of Dr MS Swaminathan Committee’s report which had recommended to fix MSP on the basis of the  50 percent add up to the cost of the cultivation.

It was the Modi Government who implemented the new MSP on the Swaminathan committee report, he added.

Mr Tomar categorically assured the House that through these Bills, the MSP will never be affected in any manner and even the Prime Minister Modi has also assured the nations that the system of the MSP will be not be affected in any manner.

During the reply of the Minister in the House, the Deputy Chairman Harivansh reminded him of the time duration of the House  and asked him to get this Bill passed within the 1300 hrs upon which the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Parhlad Joshi said that the timing of the House to be extended till these two legislation were passed.

The Opposition Members lodged strong protest over the Government approach to extension the duration of the time and demanded that the passing of these Bills should be done on Monday.

Despite the objection raised by the Leader of Opposition Gulam Nabi Azad  that duration of the House is always extended by the consensus of the House, not by the numbers of the treasury bench, the Chair allowed the Minister to continue his reply. This agitated the Opposition Members and some Members of TMC, AAP came in to well and created ruckus.

During uproar, the Chair’s mike was broken and House manual books were torn before the Chair’s place and House was adjourned for 15 minutes.

United News of India
Srinagar, Sep 20: Asserting that the New Education Policy 2020 is not only a historic and holistic document but has for the first time been created as a reflection of aspirations of the parents, teachers, students, and education experts, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha called for timely implementation of its key provisions.
The Lieutenant Governor made these remarks while inaugurating the Brainstorming on Implementation of the National Education policy-2020 in Jammu and Kashmir at S K International Conference Centre (SKICC) Auditorium, here Sunday, an official spokesperson said.
Quoting Nelson Mandella, the Lt Governor said “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.” “Education can breed prosperity, peace, and harmony in the society if we use this tool effectively and efficiently,” he added.
On the inaugural day of the Brainstorming session, Advisor to Lt Governor KK Sharma gave a brief presentation on the roadmap for the implementation of NEP-2020 in J&K. Terming the step as a milestone in over 30 years; he exclaimed that it would focus on developing better human beings apart from a generation of jobs and careers. It enumerates Revamping of curriculum, Aesthetic development, and teacher education.
The Lt Governor further remarked that the New Education Policy contains features of Equity, Quality, Affordability, and Accountability. It promotes Individual Development through experience-based Education and logical thinking.
While addressing the gathering of VCs, Former VCs, Principals of different Degree colleges from across the UT, Lt Governor impressed upon them to use the progressive features of the NEP-2020 for the benefits of students. He called for mission mode efforts to meet the growing knowledge economy through best practices available worldwide including e-content and interactive modules.
The Lt Governor said, “The role and responsibility of teachers and educationists have now become bigger and so is the expectation from parents, students, and a vast global market that is looking for young Indian talents. One of the objectives of this interactive session on NEP-2020 is to discuss the doubts and apprehensions regarding the provisions of this policy and to ensure that each and every important aspect of this education policy is implemented in a time-bound manner.”
The Lt Governor also said while nurturing the talents for a self-reliant India, our collective focus should be professional and qualitative research with synthesis of three elements- teacher, students, and curriculum, so when they are out of college after completing the education, a job or self-employment opportunity is available for them.

Seek filing of cases in both incidents, stern punishment to offenders

New Delhi, Sep 20: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president and Member Parliament Dr Farooq Abdullah along with another party MP Hasnain Masoodi staged a protest in front of Gandhi statue at the foreground of the Parliament house against “fake encounters and custodial killings” in Kashmir, a NC spokesman said in a statement.

He said both Dr Farooq Abdullah and Hasnain Masoodi held placards depicting the pictures of the slain men who were killed in the Shopian fake encounter and of a Sopore youth allegedly killed in custody. “The magisterial inquiries announced by J&K government into the circumstances leading to the killing of Irfan Ahmed Dar of Sopore and Kaunsar Reyaz of Batamaloo is mere eyewash,” the spokesman quoted NC leaders as having said.
He said that the leaders demanded a thorough probe into the killings to establish the facts. The protesting MPs demanded filling of cases into the incidents as per the law of the land.

The spokesman said, “The party has expressed outrage against the fake encounter and custodial killings in Kashmir and raised the issue inside and outside the parliament. The party has unequivocally asserted that such incidents would not help the situation to improve and bridge the widening gap of mistrust between the government and the people.” The spokesman said that the party MPs headed by Party President Dr Farooq Abdullah had also called on the Lok Sabha Speaker and urged him to allow discussion on J&K in the Parliament.
“The party MPs also moved calling attention motion in the Lok Sabha urging the Defense ministry to update the house on the status of the inquiry into the Shopian fake encounter. Party MPs also moved adjournment motion against the incidents besides raising the issue during the zero hour of the parliamentary proceedings,” the spokesman added.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, Sep 20: Former minister and senior vice-president Peoples Conference Abdul Gani Vakil today questioned NC president and MP Farooq Abdullah for giving a miss to Article 370 in his maiden speech in Lok Sabha.
In a statement Vakil said, “It’s astonishing to see that Abdullah who made his maiden speech in the Parliament gave a complete miss to the revocation of Article 370. Though he spoke about dialogue with Pakistan and internet ban, but Farooq didn’t utter a single word about revocation of Article 370 and the Gupkar declaration,” Vakil said.
Vakil said people were hoping that Farooq Abdullah would talk about “Gupkar Declaration” and the fall out of situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370.
“But he gave a silent burial to the core issue in the parliament. This questions the sole purpose of Gupkar Declaration,” he added.
Missing the best opportunity to highlight issue of Articles 370, 35 A by Farooq Abdullah in his maiden speech in Lok Sabha is astonishing and unfortunate, Vakil added.

New Delhi, Sep 20: India and China will hold their 6th round of Corps Commander-level meeting on Monday at Moldo on the Chinese side, Sources said on Sunday.

“The meeting would start at 11:30 am on the Chinese side,” the sources said.
This would be the first meeting after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting earlier this month.
On Friday, a high-level meeting attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat, and others, discussed the agenda and issues that India will raise in this meeting.
As per the sources, complete disengagement and de-escalation in the Eastern Ladakh, including Pangong Tso will be discussed.
Friday’s high-level meeting in New Delhi was called in to review the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and India’s preparations on the ground.
On Thursday, the MEA said India and China has built a consensus on the need for quick and complete disengagement of troops in Ladakh during the recent ministerial-level meets between the two sides.
The ministry said India and China should focus on easing tensions in the friction areas by refraining from any actions that may lead to an escalation in the situation.

Syed Fayaz

Srinagar, Sept 20: The Inquiry officer into the “alleged” custodial death of 23-old youth of Sopore on Sunday issued notification asking general public and relatives of the youth to record their statements before the enquiry officer.

An order in this regard issued reads, “The public in general and the close relatives of the deceased Irfan Ahmad Dar son of Mohammad Akbar Dar resident of Sidiq Colony Sopore along with the persons having knowledge about the case in particular are hereby informed through the medium of this notice to record their statements regarding the knowledge about the alleged custodial death of the deceased mentioned above before the enquiry officer, Additional District Magistrate Baramulla as per schedule”.

It also reads 20-21 September the statements will be recorded at ADC Office Sopore from 10:00 am to 01:00 PM and in ADC office Baramulla from 22 -26 September the statements will be recorded from 10:00 am to 04:00 PM.

The order further said the statements will be recorded as verbal as written and added statements can even be electronically furnished to Inquiry Officer on below mentioned Number 9419030228 and email [email protected]. (KNS)

Precious Kashmir News
Ganderbal, Sept 20: The three-day Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET-2020), conducted jointly by the Central University of Kashmir (CUK) along with 18 other varsities across the country concluded successfully on Sunday.
Out of 9100 candidates who had applied for admission to various Postgraduate, Under Graduate /Five year Integrated, Research and Diploma programmes offered by the Central University of Kashmir and other Central Universities across India, about 6400 appeared in the entrance examination conducted at different centres across the Kashmir and Ladakh regions. The entrance test across all the centres was conducted according to the set COVID-19 protocol, for which the varsity’s health centre had put in place all the requisite arrangements including kits and santizers for staff and the students.
Vice-Chancellor, CUK, Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir, Registrar, Prof. M Afzal Zargar, Director Admission, Prof. Parveen Pandit, inspected the test centres in Kashmir and expressed satisfaction over the conduct and the elaborate arrangements made for the tests. They expressed gratitude to all the institutions, observers, faculty and field staff for their role in successful conduct of the examination. “Conducting the entrance test in the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge challenge, but the efforts of the faculty, staff members of CUK and other institutions made it possible without any hiccups,” Vice Chancellor Prof. Mehraj ud Din Mir said. He also appreciated the cooperation and support of the civil and police administration in successful completion of the test.
On the first day, 2700 candidates appeared in the entrance examinations, 1830 students appeared on the second day and 1870 students participated in the entrance examination on the third day. Eleven centres were established across Kashmir division besides one in Leh and one in Kargil in Ladakh UT. These centres were set up at Green Campus, Tulmulla Campus, Nunar Campus, Science and Arts Block of the varsity in Ganderbal district, S.P. College Srinagar, Amar Singh College, Govt College for Women at Nawa Kadal, Anantnag, Baramulla, Government College of Education, Srinagar, Qamaria Model Education Institutions, Ganderbal, Satellite Campus University of Kashmir in Leh and Boys Higher Secondary School Kargil.
The consortium of 18 participating varsities included Central Universities of Kashmir, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu, Jharkhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Odisha, South Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University Rajouri, Dr. Ambedkar School of Economics Bangalore, Khallikote University (Berhampur), Sardar Patel University of Police, Security, and Criminal Justice (Jodhpur).

Precious Kashmir News

Awantipora, Sept 20: Police Sunday claimed to have recovered the snatched rifle within 30 hours and arrested two persons.

A police statement said during the course of investigation of weapon snatching case which took place at yesterday at Dadsara Awantipora, two youth were identified during video footage analysis to have committed the weapon snatching act.

“Among these two identified youth, one has been arrested and the snatched 12 Bore rifle of the said case has been recovered today afternoon from the school premises of the village Dadsara,” police said.

Another identified accused is evading his arrest. “Role of and third person, if any, is being ascertained,” the police said.

Pertinent to mention that yesterday at about 10:50 hours two masked youth entered Jammu and Kashmir Bank Dadsara branch and attacked the private security guard of “G Active Security service” with the axe and snatched his 12 Bore rifle. (KNS)