Suhail Khan
Srinagar Sep 2: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has assured all possible help to businessmen of Jammu and Kashmir from the Centre.
Kashmir’s economy has witnessed heavy losses since August last year.
As per the estimates of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), the Kashmir economy has suffered losses over Rs 40,000 crore for the last one year.
On Tuesday, in a webinar with the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the industry representatives said that the Centre has to take prompt steps to save the dying industry and the growing unemployment in the union territory.
Organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Peace Forum, the webinar presented a ground report of the situation in the UT.
KCCI President Sheikh Ashiq said the Union Finance Minister keenly listened to the issues raised by the business community.
“We told her that every sector in Kashmir has suffered badly for the last one year. There is no cash flow in markets. Over five lakh people have become jobless. We told her that a special package should be announced for every sector,” Ashiq told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service.
“The Finance Minister told us that she already spoke to Lieutenant Governor regarding businesses in Jammu and Kashmir. She assured us that the Centre will provide help to the business community in the best possible way,” he added.
Sitharaman has said that the Centre was keen to listen and understand the ground situation as that helped in formulating policies.
She said, “We are interacting with all the stakeholders in the industry and we have been benefitted from this. We want to keep our ears close to the ground and based on the inputs from various stakeholders, policy changes are made.”
She said that she had met the new J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha who also spoke about greater support and more resources for the UT.
While commencing the interaction, the J&K Peace Forum chairman, Satish Mahaldar said, “The primary objective of the meeting was to primarily understand how we can achieve sustainable industrial development in all regions for increasing the rate of growth, value of output, employment, income and overall economic development of the UT. The trend in the development of J&K is not encouraging; it has been lagging behind most of the states with regard to the growth of the net state domestic product at current prices. J&K UT is one of those regions in the country where both the demographic situation and level of socio-economic development remains far from satisfactory.”
“It is important to discuss how to revive potential viable sick industrial units so as to put optimum use of the capital and other resources which are already employed in such enterprises. It is important to know from the industry experts how we can strive towards balanced economic and social development in all regions of the UT by promoting industrialization,” said Mahaldar.
Sopore Industrial Association president Javaid Ahmad Bhat said, “Given the unique position of the J&K .and the situation it has been in for the last 30 years, it is necessary that J&K has a separate Industrial policy. A policy which is a ground report based in the UT.” He said that most of the policy making happens in the closed room environment with no connection with the actual situation and this is gravely affecting the industry sector in J&K. He suggested that a land bank be created in the UT for the industrial sector as a lot of land existed which can be put to good use.
Lalit Mahajan, Bari Brahmana Industrial Association president said, “J&K industry, especially the MSMEs are reeling under economic distress for the past one year. There is an urgent need for incentives. If MSMEs are helped, unemployment to some extent can be arrested.” He said that J&K borders are with Pakistan and China where no trade is possible, hence the need to help the industry by giving special attention.
Taking up the case of the sick PSUs, Wajahat Durrani, president J&K PSUs employees said, “The PSUs in the state are in a bad condition, but they have a huge potential if the right attention and help is given.” He cited the case of the J&KSRTC, which currently had only 300 buses to cater to a population of 80 lakh people. He said that if right incentives are given, J&KSRTC can be turned around into a frontier organization. He said similarly other ventures in horticulture, etc can help in generating employment and strengthening the state economy.

Jammu, Sep 2: A Junior Commissioned Officer was killed as Pakistan troops violated the ceasefire by firing unprovoked along the Line of Control in Keri Sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.
Defence sources here said that Pakistan resorted to an unprovoked ceasefire violation and used small arms in Keri sector of Rajouri.
“The JCO suffered bullet injuries and later he succumbed,” sources added. They further added that the Indian army gave befitting reply to cross border firing. Earlier on August 30, one JCO was killed in ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Nowshera sector of Rajouri.

Srinagar, Sep 2: The NIA and sleuths of Income Tax Department assisted by police and CRPF carried out searches at multiple locations in Srinagar and Kupwara against some businessmen in connection with the cross-LoC trade.
The purpose of the raids was not immediately known, however, sources said that raids were conducted with regard to ‘militant funding’ case.
Teams of the National Investigation Agency, along with state police and paramilitary forces, swooped on the locations this morning to gather evidence, the officials said.
Official sources said that raids were conducted in Mandar Bagh and Dandarkha areas of Srinagar while a raid on the shop and house of an LoC trader was also conducted in Kandi Khas area of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Police sources said that those who were raided are affiliated with LoC trade.
In Kandi Khas area of Kupwara, the shop and the house of a businessman were raided. The businessman was also involved in LoC trade but his family said that he disassociated from the trade last year and now he is running a provisional store.
An official said that incriminating material has been seized from his shop and the house. (KNT)

Budgam, Sep 2: A non-local was detained by police at Srinagar Airport for travelling on a fake Identity Card.

Sources told news agency KNT that a person from Bijnore, Uttar Pradesh was intending to board a ‘Go Air’ G8-204 flight from Srinagar to Delhi on a fake Identity Card.
The man, a painter by profession was identified as Muhammad Nasir son of Sabir Ahmed.

Sources said on ‘Boarding Gate’ securitymen found his name doesn’t match with his ID. His ID revealed his name as Muhammad Nasir. Accordingly, he was handed over to police post Humhama for questioning. (KNT)

New Delhi: India has joined the group of top 50 countries in the global innovation index for the first time, moving up four places to the 48th rank and keeping the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia.
According to the Global Innovation Index (GII) list, 2020 released jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University and INSEAD Business School on Wednesday, the rankings show stability at the top but a gradual “eastward shift in the locus of innovation” as Asian economies like China, India, the Philippines and Vietnam have advanced considerably in the innovation ranking over the years.

Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands lead the innovation ranking, and the top 10 positions are dominated by high-income countries, WIPO said in a statement.

About India, the statement said it has become the third most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world, thanks to newly available indicators and improvements in various areas of the GII.

India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.

“Thanks to universities such as the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Delhi and the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and its top scientific publications, India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality,” it said.
A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII before arriving at the rankings.
The metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.

New Delhi, Sep 2: On an average 381 persons had committed suicide in India daily in 2019, the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data said, adding that a total of 1,39,123 fatalities last year, including 36 such casualties of security personnel under the Home Ministry.
According to the latest data, there has been an increase of 3.4 percent in suicides during 2019 (1,39,123 suicides) as compared to 2018 (1,34,516) and 2017 (1,29,887) and the rate of suicide (incidents per 1 lakh population) rose by 0.2 percent in 2019 over 2018.
The report also mentions that the suicide rate in cities (13.9 percent) was higher as compared to the national average of 10.4 per cent in last year.
As per the data of suicides committed, a 53.6 percent of cases were reported by hanging, 25.8 percent by consuming poison, 5.2 percent by drowning and 3.8 percent by self-immolation.
The NCRB data further specified that family problems, other than marriage-related issues, were behind 32.4 percent in suicides cases, marriage-related problems were 5.5 percent and 17.1 percent were because of illness and they together accounted for 55 percent of the total suicides.
However, the data revealed that nearly 68.4 percent of the male victims were married, whereas in case of women victim the ratio was 62.5 percent.
Referring to the suicides cases in the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) under the Home Ministry, the report said that a total of 433 suicide deaths were reported during the six-year period, the least (28) number of cases was reported in 2018 and the maximum (175) in 2014 while it was 60 in 2017, 74 in 2016 and 60 in 2015.
The NCRB data did not reveal the Force-wise break up of suicides within the CAPF, but of the total deaths, 14 of them (38.9 percent) due to “family problems” and three due to “service-related issues”. The reason for suicide was “not known” in eight cases, while it was “other causes” in nine. “Fall in social reputation” and “marriage-related issues” led to one suicide each during the year 2019, the NCRB data observed.

Union Cabinet approves, Bill to be brought in Parliament

New Delhi, Sep 2: Five languages –Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri and English will be made the official languages in Jammu and Kashmir and a Bill will be brought in Parliament for this, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said here on Wednesday.
A proposal to this effect was approved in the meeting of the Union Cabinet held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Javadekar gave this information to reporters after the meeting.
He told that the Cabinet has given its approval to the official language department of Jammu and Kashmir and 5 languages have been included in it. The five languages are Hindi, Urdu, Kashmiri, Dogri and English. Javadekar informed that this Bill will be introduced in Parliament.

Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Sept 2: Over five thousand teaching posts are lying vacant in the Jammu and Kashmir School Education department, thus simultaneously taking a toll on quality education in the sector.
The official documents reveal that the posts have been referred to the Service Selection Recruitment Board (SSRB) for the immediate recruitment of the teachers.
Official figures available revealed that “There is a total vacancy of 5014 teachers in Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir. The posts have been referred to SSRB.”
In this regard, the Ministry of Human Resource development (MHRD) has asked the authorities of the UT to expedite the process and recruit the teachers as early as possible.
The MHRD has also said that the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in Jammu and Kashmir will develop the guidelines on the usage of various available e-learning platforms regarding the sample schedule of the sessions to be conducted online (Time-table) and number of hours of usage.
“Guidelines should also include how study at home can be undertaken and daily or weekly timetables may be issued,” read the MHRD directions.
It also said that the teachers can conduct virtual classrooms or discussions.
“The classroom sessions should be either live streamed or recorded. Queries and doubts of students should be adequately answered,” MHRD said.
The Government of India (GoI) also said that the planning of the access should be done such that no child is left behind.
“State or UT governments may ensure that learning content is accessible to the needs of Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and in such areas with low internet connectivity, the Government should deliver the content through radio and TV to reach the remotest location,” it said. (KNO)