First govt that represented all regions, earlier ones used to be Kashmir-centric: Nirmal Singh

Nirmal Singh, who was deputy CM in Mufti Sayeed’s government, spoke On the alliance “Our alliance partner was one with which we had lot of ideological differences on various issues… However, we prepared an agenda of alliance addressing every issue during the next two months. As a result there was no major trouble between the alliance partners during the 10 months.” Once in government… “We learnt a lot during those 10 months and got many things streamlined. Led by Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who was a visionary leader and supported by…

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Kashmir bat industry dying a slow death

From Jawbehara in Pulwama to Anantnag along the highway, a number of bat factories grab your eyeballs. As the bill-boards glued on these factories are big, so small the business is happening inside them nowadays. The owners of these factories claim, the business is dying its own death because of the indifference of the government towards them. The government had declared an Industrial cluster for this factory but the same hasn’t seen the light of the day yet. “The disorganized way of selling the product has a negative effect on…

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Deadly reminders: J&K on shaky ground

• Ominous Signs: From 7 tremors in 2010, the number of earthquakes felt in the State reached 27 in 2015 • 105 minor and major tremors have jolted J&K since 2009 The graph of earthquakes hitting Jammu and Kashmir has reached all time high with 27 tremors felt in the state last year. As per the official data, 105 minor and major tremors have jolted the state since 2009. The threat of earthquake looms large in the state, particularly in the areas coming under Seismic Zone V. As per the…

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‘Kashmir is a tailor-made destination for corporate conferences’

India’s top-notch event organizer and son-of-the-soil Naveen Kundu Sunday stated that Kashmir is a tailor-made destination for holding corporate conferences and wedding tourism. He pledged to promote meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibition or MICE tourism of Kashmir among corporate across the country. Kundu who runs an event management company namely Leisure Corp said that Kashmir apart from being tourism destination has also facilities available to become hub of MICE tourism. “If we assess the current infrastructure, Kashmir can host conferences having more than 3,000 participants,” Kundu said while talking to us in…

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Concept of education in Islam

Learning process is neither child centered nor teacher centered, but a collective system based on practical teaching Khursheed Nabi Malla Islam is a complete way of life. Islam provides mankind with a complete guidance for the acquisition of knowledge and transformation of education. Islam lays emphasise more on education. But the philosophy of education as provided by the Islam is quite different from the philosophies of non-Muslim philosophers. The philosophy put forth by Islam must therefore include the concept of accountability of deeds in hereafter and applicability. Man is supposed…

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SMC messes up solid waste management at Achan

Failure of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) to undertake scientific disposal of solid waste of Srinagar at Achan garbage dump has pushed the summer capital on the verge of an environmental disaster. At a time when experts have raised red flag over feasibility of much-hyped waste-to-energy project at Achan, the SMC has failed to put in place mechanism for scientific disposal of the solid waste. On an average 400 metric tons of solid garbage is produced per day in Srinagar. Taking cognizance of unscientific methods to dispose of waste at Achan,…

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Declining snowfall triggers concern

Global warming coupled with overexploitation of resources is impacting Kashmir’s weather pattern and snowfall timings, an official report has said, blaming “unplanned urbanization, encroachment of wetlands and rapid deforestation” for these alterations. The official report titled ‘State Action Plan on Climate Change’ mentions that Kashmir Valley is recording “unusual shift in snowfall timings” as the summer capital (Srinagar) is witnessing less snowfall in December and January—ideally considered as peak winter months with temperature dipping below freezing point. However for the past couple of years, these months have witnessed less or…

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Defying curbs, thousands join Hizb militant’s funeral

Thousands of people on Sunday joined the funeral prayers of a militant who died in a gunfight with forces in Gundpora village of this south Kashmir district yesterday. Scores of people, including some cops, were injured in massive protests and clashes over the militant’s killing. Syed Mufeed Bashir, son of Basheer Ahmad, a resident of ZadooraPulwama, died in the brief gun-battle at Gundpora on Saturday evening, leading to massive protests which continued throughout the night and in the morning as well, reports and witnesses said. The slain militant of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen…

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Leh holds Dosmochey fair

The two-day Dosmochey mela concluded at Leh today. During the festival, the market was abuzz with activity and people took part in various games during the fair. Every year, the day is celebrated on the 28th and 29th day of the 12th month of the Tibetan calendar. This year, the famous ‘chams’ (mask dance) was performed in the courtyard of Chowkhang Vihara or Gompa Soma. ‘Dhos’ was prepared by the monks of the Takthok monastery and ‘storma’ by the monks of the Diskit monastery. The mask dance was performed by…

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RSS raises economic issues to reach out to Muslims

In its campaign to engage Muslims and Christians in the dialogue process, the RSS is avoiding contentious issues like Article 370 and trying to rake up economic issues to sideline the Hurriyat Conference and other separatist groups. RSS leaders have realised that it will be impossible to make inroads among minorities by taking up controversial issues. The RSS, ideological mentor of the BJP, has initiated the dialogue with Muslims and Christians to remove “mistrust, misgivings and misunderstanding”. The first such meeting with Christian leaders was held in Jammu this evening.…

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