Govt announces winter vacations from December 3

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday announced winter vacations for all schools in Kashmir division and winter zones of Jammu division. As per the order issued by the school education department, winter vacations from primary to class 8th will start from December 3 while as for High and Higher Secondary classes winter vacations will start from December 10. It said the last working day for classes up to class 8th will be December 2 while as vacations for high and higher secondary classes will be observed from December 11…

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Season’s coldest night in Gulmarg, Kargil; Leh records minus 6.5

The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir along with Leh and Kargil towns in Ladakh region recorded the season’s coldest night owing to snow in several areas in the upper reaches of Jammu and Kashmir earlier this week. Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 5.6 degrees Celsius, a Meteorological Department official said here. The area experienced a drop of over five degrees in night temperature from the previous night’s zero degree Celsius, he said. Gulmarg was the coldest place in the Valley and the second coldest in Jammu and…

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Sangh’s new game plan for Ayodhya

Will the ‘Hindu’ rulers use their newfound status to display a spirit of generosity in working towards an agreement or demand nothing less than total submission from the other side? From the time of Adityanath’s first visit to Ayodhya as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the question doing the rounds in the state was why he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are singing such different tunes on the Ram temple controversy. Adityanath’s recent Diwali extravaganza, tom-tommed as a ‘return to treta yuga’,  has triggered a fresh round of speculation – unlike in 2014,…

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Schools closed as Pakistan Army opens indiscriminate fire at Indian border posts

Pakistan Army on Friday opened indiscriminate fire at the Indian positions near the international border in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch sector, injuring a jawan and triggering a massive retaliatory firing by the security forces. Automatic weapons and mortars were used in the unprovoked firing by the Pakistani forces along the Line of Control (LoC), the ANI reported. Friday’s unprovoked firing was another major ceasefire violation by the Pakistani border guards. Meanwhile, the Indian Army is strongly retaliating against the Pakistani shelling. An Army jawan sustained minor injuries in the exchange…

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BJP breaks its silence, backs Padmavati stir

After a period of careful silence, senior BJP leaders have begun backing the protests against ‘ Padmavati ‘, seeing in it a fit with the party’s view that Hindu icons and traditions have been subject to selective distortion at the hands of politically coloured culture czars. Highways minister Nitin Gadkari seemed on the same page as the Karni Sena and representatives of the Rajput community who are seeing red over the film’s purported “distortion” of the legend of Padmavati, who according to lore, committed ‘jauhar’ to escape dishonour. While several…

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Farooq Abdullah seeks autonomy for J&K, asks PM to engage with people

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday again pitched for autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir and asked Modi government to rollback all central laws extended to the state after 1953. Addressing a public meeting in Uri, Farooq Abdullah said the restoration of autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir was non-negotiable and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to engage with people of the state to bring back normalcy. “The time has come to reverse the extension of all central laws extended to J&K post-1953 through pliant regimes that were installed in Jammu…

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Dilapidated Jammu-Srinagar National Highway irks commutators

People of Nashri Peera Chanderkote Ramban Seri Digdool Magarkote have expressed concern over the deteriorating condition of old alignment of Jammu Srinagar National Highway passing through from various areas of this hilly district. The contractor companies engaged by National Highway Authority of India is responsible for up keeping of the highway had reportedly failed to take mandatory maintenance and repairing work of the highway passing through in this district. Ditches potholes and poor condition remains main problem for the commuters and the drivers who are used to visit and travel…

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PDP-BJP coalition coordination panel remains defunct, met only five times since inception

As the coordination committee of the PDP-BJP coalition has virtually become defunct due to the casual approach of both the parties, the government has failed to take decisions on important policy matters. The last meeting of the panel, which was formed to set agenda for the coalition regime, was held over one and a half years ago. After that the leaders of both the parties have failed to make the committee vibrant and effective to evolve a consensus on contentious issues. It was announced that meeting of the coordination panel…

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Rats having free run in Jammu city as admin looks other way

The rat menace has taken the Jammu city by storm as almost every household is affected by them while the authorities, it seems, have no plan to check the problem. It has been a common phenomenon in the city, particularly the old city, where many houses used to remain infested with rats. The rodents used to eat up leftovers in kitchen besides shredding the clothes kept in stores. However, now the increasing number of eateries in the city have added to the woes of the people. Earlier, the grocery stores…

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Want to board hajj flight from Srinagar need to pay Rs 36k more

The Haj Committee of India has increased the airfare for the intending Haj pilgrims from Kashmir. As per the latest airfare rates announced by the Haj committee, the intending Haj pilgrims, who choose Srinagar as the embarkation point for Haj 2018, will have to shell out Rs 35,995 more than those who embark in Delhi. The steep rise in the airfare for the Srinagar-Delhi leg of the journey has angered intending pilgrims in the Valley, who see the move as a ploy by the government to discourage people from choosing…

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