In pre poll process more arrests on cards : J&K Police

Police plan to arrest more people in the run up to the general elections. Sources in the police said their focus is to keep “trouble makers in check” so that there is no untoward incident and people come out to vote in a “fear-free environment”. “The process to arrest potential trouble makers is underway,” a senior superintendent of police told Kashmir Post. He said every arrest will be made after a thorough background check. “Some people have changed and now we do not want them in custody,” he said.Another senior…

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Today World Wide Web turns 30

Today, the web completed 30 years on Earth. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) on March 12, 1989 at CERN, a research organization near Geneva. CERN is now giving users access to the first website created. The first website can be accessed through the URL “info.cern.ch” which also happens to be the original address. Titled “World Wide Web”, the website has hyperlinks to different documents related to the web. Here, users can find out what is hypertext, a summary of the project, software products and help with the…

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India’s election is among the world’s most expensive exercise

The world’s biggest democracy will soon hold what’s likely to beone of the world’s costliest elections.India’s six-week-long vote will span the Himalayan range in the north, the Indian Ocean in the south, the Thar desert in the west and the mangroves of the Sundarbans in the east. This time the polling exercise, due to start on April 11 and be completed by May 19, will cost an unprecedented 500 billion rupees ($7 billion),accordingto the New Delhi-based Centre for Media Studies. About$6.5 billionwas spent during the US presidential and congressional races…

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Polling for Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will be held in three phases?

On Sunday, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls, it left many in J&K bemused. The state has six parliamentary constituencies, but the body announced eight dates for conducting the electoral exercise. “Has there been a delimitation of Parliamentary constituencies through Presidential order?” asked former finance minister Haseeb Drabu, as he questioned Commission’s poll schedule for “eight” seats in J&K. “The last time I checked the J&K had only six (LS) seats,” he tweeted in total amusement. Even former chief minister Omar…

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The sacrifice of martyrs being used by BJP for vote bank​: Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena has launched the attack on Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) ally saying that those seeking votes on the basis of the martyrdom of brave jawans’ are ‘culprits’ and should be held responsible for politicising the sacrifice of our brave-hearts. In an editorial in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Shiv Sena says that those ‘questioning the authenticity’ of air strike are equally responsible for ‘insulting’ the valour of our forces. The editorial reads, “To blame political opponents by calling them anti-nationals is inappropriate.It is a breach of freedom of expression. There…

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Extend UDAN scheme to Kashmir: Tourism Body

With the skyrocketing airfares shooing away intending tourists to Kashmir, the Valley-based tourism players Monday asked why the central government was not extending its air travel scheme, which facilitates cheaper airfares to several destinations, to Kashmir.The government of India in 2016 launched UDAN (ude desh ka aam nagrik) scheme to make air travel affordable for people through subsidised ticket prices and to provide air connectivity to smaller towns. The aim of the scheme is to connect major cities with tier-II and tier-III cities at a price of Rs 2,500 per…

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The surgical​ strike was done for sole purpose of winning LS polls: Farooq Abdullah

National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah Monday made serious allegations against the BJP-led government, saying it ordered the air strike in Pakistan’s Balakot with the “sole purpose” of winning Lok Sabha elections.The Srinagar MP alleged the BJP has “failed” on all fronts and it was apprehended that there would be a fight or skirmish with Pakistan before the polls so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi becomes some kind of an “avatar” without whom India cannot survive. “This surgical strike (air strike) was done only for the purpose of election…totally for…

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Amid the threat of nuclear war, Kashmir is no longer safe for Kashmiris

When the first fighter jets tore through the sky over his home in Srinagar, Kashmir, 50-year-old Mohammad Yusuf knew immediately that something was very wrong. As a maths teacher, Mr Yusuf has worked at schools no more than 10km (six miles) from the “Line of Control”, the de facto border agreed by India and Pakistan between their respective territories in Kashmir. Yet until last week he had never heard the roar of jets flying low overhead, never mind in Srinagar itself – the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir…

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