Online bidding for mineral blocks leaves locals at a backfoot, while non-locals walked away with lions share

For the first time ever, non-local companies have bagged a majority of contracts for the extraction of minerals from the water bodies of Kashmir. With the bidding process being held online, many local businessmen were left at a disadvantage as high-speed Internet connectivity remains restricted in Kashmir after the Centre read down Article 370 on August 5, 2019. More than 200 mineral blocks in Jhelum and its tributaries across all 10 districts of the Valley were opened for mining of sand, boulders, gravel and other river bed material in December…

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Out of box ‘Cure’ for coronavirus, Patanjali continues to do ‘Science’ by Press Release

By – Vasudevan Mukunth Patanjali Ayurved, the FMCG company owned by yoga guru Baba Ramdev that has made a windfall selling food and consumer goods rooted in supposed Ayurvedic precepts and by capitalising on protectionist sentiments, claimed on Tuesday that it had developed an Ayurvedic product that could ‘cure’ COVID-19. At a launch event earlier this week, Ramdev said their Patanjali Research Institute had produced an “evidence-based ayurvedic cure” for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has thus far claimed 4.4 lakh lives around the world. The…

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Border tensions between India and China continue, PLA opens a new front in Depsang Bulge

Around 30 km south-east from the important airstrip of Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), the Chinese army has moved and deployed in large numbers up to a place called Y-junction or Bottleneck on the Depsang plains. As India and China grapple with rising tensions in the Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Pangong Tso on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Chinese army has crossed the border in another strategic area to the north, the Depsang plains. This intrusion is seen as another attempt by the Chinese to shift the LAC…

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ASEAN coalition supports OIC communique on Kashmir Situation

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has expressed full support to the communique of the recent OIC Contact Group Virtual Emergency meeting on the situation of Indian occupied Kashmir. In a letter to OIC, ASEAN coalition pointed out that the situation on the ground in Jammu Kashmir is dire and needs immediate attention to alleviate the sufferings of the Kashmiri civilians. It stated that since the August 2019 lockdown, there is no breathing space for the Kashmiris as the BJP Indian government has escalated its grip on the disputed…

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