273 deaths in 24-hours,  fatalities reach 6348

New Delhi, June 5: India on Friday registered sharpest spike with 9,851 novel coronavirus infections, taking the caseload to 2,26,700 even as the country is gearing for reopening of malls, religious places and restaurants from June 8 to jump-start the economy battered by the pandemic outbreak.
However, strict guidelines will accompany the trimmed restrictions.
As per Union Health Ministry, 273 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hrs, raising the fatalities to 6,348.
In a positive development, nearly 48 per cent of the total coronavirus cases — 1.09 lakh patients have recovered from the contagion. Active cases in the country now stand at 1,10,960.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, June 5: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan today convened a meeting of divisional administration and health officials here regarding the administrative and medical aspects for management of Covid-19.

The Advisor laid emphasis on strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the Government of India and Department of Health. He asked to make the wearing of face masks and observation of social distancing norms mandatory.

The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, P.K Pole; all Deputy Commissioners of Kashmir Division; Director, SKIMS; Director Health Services Kashmir; Director, Airport Authority, Srinagar; Principal Government Medical College, Srinagar; Principal SKIMS Medical College Bemina; Medical Superintendents of B&J Hospital, Super Speciality Hospital, Lalla Ded Hospital and GB Pant Hospital.

Most of the officers participated in the meeting through Video Conferencing.

The Advisor asked the officers about the Standing Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be observed for the gradual unlocking process to be taken in hand subsequently. He took stock of the preparations made by the divisional administration regarding this process and directed to show utmost seriousness in taking all the measures required as per the guidelines and local requirements.

He advised the officers to look into the needs of people in view of the picking up of the agricultural and horticulture activities here. He asked them to create awareness among rural population so that they take the precautionary measures while working in their farms and orchards.

Advisor Baseer Khan also asked the officers to put in place proper deterrence mechanism so that no laxity is observed among the people in observing the guidelines. He enquired from the officers about the requisite facilities with respect to hospital and administrative quarantine, testing and allied facilities necessary for tackling the pandemic. He advised them to look into the need for improvements, if any, for meeting the future demands taking into consideration the gradual unlocking process and coming of people back to home.

The Advisor further directed them to provide medical and other facilities to the patients with comorbid conditions, elderly people and pregnant ladies. He asked them to provide every amenity to people living in Red and Containment zones.

The Divisional Commissioner, on the occasion, informed the Advisor

that facilities put in place are satisfactory to tackle any future eventuality. He further informed that more than 10000 beds are available in Hospitals, wellness centres and Covid centres for the patients out of which only 1300 are occupied currently.

He informed the meeting that proper SOPs and guidelines are being framed to open business activities as per the guidelines. Testing of service providers like vendors, bakers, grocery store owners and others is going on and persons with negative results would only be allowed to operate their businesses, he added.

The Deputy Commissioners informed the meeting that people are compounded for violating the guidelines and tracing of all the contacts of positive cases are done on war footing basis. They informed the meeting that awareness among the masses is created using social and mainstream media, services of community elders and religious leaders. They also put forth their specific needs and suggestions before the Advisor for consideration.

The participating health officers gave their inputs regarding the

containment of this infection in view of unlocking measures to be taken in future. They informed the Advisor about the measures that have already been taken and are in pipeline to fight this pandemic successfully. It was given in the meeting that J&K UT is among the top in the country for testing the travellers, contacts of covid patients and suspected individuals.

The airport authorities informed that all the measures of segregation of arrival and departure flights are observed. They informed that rush of passengers is out rightly avoided at the Srinagar airport. They also informed that sanitisation of premises and social distancing norms are also observed strictly.

They informed that about 1100-1200 passengers arrive and nearly 1000 of them depart each day for which the airport is kept open for almost 12 hours daily.

New Delhi, June 5: The Supreme Court on Friday sought a detailed response from the Central government on a PIL for capping cost of treatment of COVID-19 patients in private hospitals.

The petitioner, Avishek Goenka told the Apex court that the private hospitals are charging exorbitant fees from Covid patients making it inaccessible to many infected from the virus.

The PIL also seeks time bound manner of mediclaim settlement by insurance companies minimum to the tune of govt approved rates. It also seeks direction to extend cashless facilities to all insured patients and other issues.

The Apex Court bench, comprising of Justices M R Shah and V Ramasubramanian, besides led by Justice Bhushan, asked Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta to file Centre’s response on putting an upper limit on fees to be charged by private hospitals for treating Covid patients.

A similar matter was also listed before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde toady, where the court had asked the centre whether private or charitable hospitals, which got land free from government, could be asked to treat Covid patients free of cost.

The Centre has already filed an affidavit saying it did not have statutory power to direct private hospitals to treat Covid patients free of cost.

Srinagar, June 5: J&K administration would take a call on the shifting of the Durbar Move – tradition of moving the capital of the region twice a year — from Srinagar to Jammu during the winter and back to Jammu in the summer on Monday.
A highly placed source in administration revealed to KNS that an important meeting would be held in the Jammu civil secretariat to take a call on the shifting of the Darbar move to Srinagar.

The opening of the Darbar move was delayed from its regular scheduled opening in the first week of May to 15 June after an order was issued by the General Administration Department J&K.

“It has been observed that the formal opening of the Darbar on 04.05.2020, as ordered vide government order no. 464-JK (GAD) of 2020 dated 10/04/2020, may affect the Covid-19 control efforts in the Union Territory,” reads the order in procession of KNS and issued by the General Administration Department of J&K government.

The order with KNS further reads, “The formal opening of the Darbar at Srinagar will take place on 15.06.2020. All officers assigned specific Covid-19 control tasks shall continue to function from their present location till further orders, so as to ensure Covid-19 control effects and not hampers on account of physical dislocation of officers.”

It added that the Civil Secretariat at Srinagar shall start functioning on 4 May with the staff and officers on an “as is where is” basis, i.e., staff will continue working where they are based.

Later on in a separate order Principal Secretary School Education Department Dr Asghar Hassan Samoon was made overall incharge of the Srinagar civil secretariat and other couple of Kashmiri officers were assigned additional covid 19 measures related duties and other developmental works of districts. (KNS)

Srinagar, June 5: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the overall situation of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources told news agency KINS that top officials of the MHA, especially those looking after the affairs of the Union Territory briefed the Home Minister about J&K’s overall situation.

“Senior officers gave detailed briefing on the internal security as well as the situation prevailing along the borders” sources said.

One of the top officials said that the Home Minister was satisfied with the progress of “operations launched against militants by security forces in Kashmir in which number of militants including top commanders have been killed in hinterland while series of infiltration attempts have been foiled on the borders”.

The Home Minister, according to the sources, was also briefed about the steps taken to maintain peace along border areas as well as in the Valley. (KINS)

Srinagar, June 5: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued Standard Operating Procedures, SOPs for religious places, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, hospitality services and workplaces.

The Health Ministry officials told KINS, that the objective of these SOPs is to minimize all possible physical contacts and maintain social distancing while adhering to preventive and safety measures against COVID-19.

Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs had issued guidelines for phased re-opening of areas outside the containment zones after the strict lockdown imposed throughout the country on 24th March. “ In phase-one of the unlock period, the government had permitted opening of religious places, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and other hospitality services for the public from 8th June”.

However sources said that all the hotels, shopping malls, restaurants, religious places and other hospitality services in the containment zones shall remain closed. “Only those outside the containment zones will be allowed to open as per the guidelines issued by the government. All the hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, religious places, workplaces and other hospitality services are advised to have the arrangement of sanitizer dispenser and thermal screening at the entrance” sources said.

Sources added that only asymptomatic persons shall be allowed in the premises. “Spitting will be strictly prohibited. In the restaurants, takeaways are encouraged instead of dine-in and food delivery personnel will leave the packet at customer’s door. The Health Ministry has advised the public to maintain physical distancing of at least six feet and the use of face masks. It has also been advised to use the Aarogya Setu App.”

Precious Kashmir News
Jammu, June 5: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu, Chancellor of the University of Kashmir, today chaired meeting of the Kashmir University Council, through video conferencing.

The Lt Governor sought a detailed report on the activities and various initiatives taken by the University. He advised the University authorities to adopt a futuristic approach for upgradation of infrastructural facilities and various academic & research programmes on varied subjects with special focus on most recent advancements.  It was informed that an amount of Rs 50 crores has been approved under RUSA for research and innovative hub.

The Lt Governor complimented the University authorities for achieving high position under NIRF Ranking and securing the 53rd rank amongst the Universities, besides being the top most University in J&K. He further congratulated the faculty and students for grant of International Fellowships, Awards and Scholarships.

The Lt Governor stressed on promoting excellence in teaching, research and extension activities, strengthening technical education and advised the University authorities for updation of e-learning and other teaching tools to provide the students with the enhanced educational resource platforms.

Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, KU highlighted the technological and research breakthroughs made by the University and initiatives taken for strengthening relations. He informed that the University has 8 Campuses, 14 Schools /Faculties and 149 colleges and apprised the chair about the future planning of the University including establishing smart classrooms, new centers under RUSA, Bio-Safety level-III labs, online examinations, establishment of constituent college at Zakoora under RUSA-2.0 etc.

On being informed by the Vice-Chancellor about the collaboration of the University with a USA based University to carry out joint field studies on preserving of Lakes and Water bodies, the Lt Governor stressed on laying a dedicated focus on protecting and conserving the water bodies and other natural resources across the UT. He further advised taking the Forest department into the loop for conservation of natural resources and stopping depletion of forests.

He further called for focusing on capacity building, innovative, job oriented and skill development courses for the students to meet the industrial and other modern day requirements and global trends.

The meeting was attended by Sh. Kewal Kumar Sharma, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance department ; Sh. M Raju, Secretary to the Government, Planning, Development and Monitoring department, Sh. Talat Parvez Rohella, Secretary Higher Education; Prof. Talat Ahmad, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir;  Prof. Manoj Kumar Dhar, Vice- Chancellor, University of Jammu; Prof. Anju Bhasin, Vice Chancellor, Cluster University of Jammu; Chancellor’s Nominees- Prof. Shamim Ahmad Shah, Prof. Showkat Ahmad Shah, Dr. Fehmeeda Hilal, Dr Tariq Ahmad Bhat, Prof. Jaspal Singh Sandhu and Dr. Shimla ; Dr. Nissar Ahmed Mir, Registrar, KU and other senior officers.

Precious Kashmir News
Srinagar, June 5:  In connection with the conduct of AIIMS entrance examination scheduled to be held on June 11, 2020 at designated centers of Srinagar for Kashmir based students, all the Deputy

Commissioners of Kashmir division have been directed to ensure smooth conduct of the said examination.

According to the communication from office of the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, all the Deputy Commissioners have been asked to provide all necessary  support to the students undergoing the entrance test at their respective districts. The communication further reads that the AIIMS entrance examination has to be considered as essential activity and accordingly admit cards of the said examination would be treated as equivalent to curfew pass for the movement of the purpose of examination on June 11, 2020.

In addition, the district administrations will also ensure the movement of supervisory/observance staff and other concerned for the purpose of preparation and conduct of AIIMS entrance examination.

In view of evolving situation related to COVID-19 outbreak all advisories / guidelines of Govt. of India, regarding social distancing and sanitization will be followed at all examination centres.

New Delhi, June 5: India and China on Friday held diplomatic talks over their military stand-off in eastern Ladakh and agreed to handle their “differences” through peaceful discussions while respecting each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations, and not allow them to become disputes.

The talks through video conference were held between Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the External Affairs Ministry Naveen Srivastava and Director General in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wu Jianghao.

Without directly referring to the military stand-off, the External Affairs Ministry said the two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relations including the current developments.

“In this context they recalled the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for stability in the current global situation,” the MEA said in a statement.

It said both sides agreed to resolve differences in accordance with guidance provided by leadership of two countries, in a reference to decisions taken at the two informal summits between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Both sides agreed that in accordance with the guidance provided by the leadership, the two sides should handle their differences through peaceful discussion bearing in mind the importance of respecting each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations and not allow them to become disputes,” the MEA said.

Troops of India and China are locked in a bitter military stand-off in at least four areas in eastern Ladakh for a month.

Nasir Azam

Srinagar, June 5: The ban on inter- district and inter – division recruitment is no more applicable in Jammu & Kashmir as any domicile of the Union Territory can apply for any district and divisional cadre post.
Under the new recruitment rules unveiled by the government for class 4th posts, 5-10 additional marks will be given to candidates of home districts and divisions for the posts mean for their respective districts and divisions.

Before August 5, 2019, the district and divisional cadre posts were reserved for candidates of respective districts and divisions. “Previously, a candidate could apply for district cadre post only in his/her native district and divisional cadre post only in his/her home division. Now, any domicile of J&K can apply for any district and divisional cadre post,” they told KNO adding, that 5 to 10 extra marks will be given candidates of home districts and divisions for posts meant for their districts and divisions.

The J&K legislature had banned inter-district and inter- division recruitment after amending the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment Act-2010. According to new rules, five marks will be given to candidates of home division for divisional cadre posts and 10 marks will be awarded to candidates of home district for district cadre posts.

The new rules have been framed by the administration under powers conferred by proviso to Article 309 of Indian Constitution read with Section 15 of J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment)

Act, 2010. It is worthwhile to mention here that all jobs in Jammu and Kashmir have been reserved for its domiciles after Centre amended the J&K Civil Services (Decentralisation and Recruitment) Act, 2010 in April this year.