Year: 2015

Kashmir rekindles tryst with Bollywood

Editor

With the government making all-out efforts to woo Bollywood to revive Kashmir’s link with the Hindi film industry, the tourism sector is hopeful that more Bollywood crews would shoot in the Valley in the winter months. After the completion of the first shooting schedule of “Sargoshiyan”, which was the first crew to have come here after Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed’s meetings with several Bollywood bigwigs in Mumbai last month, the Tourism Department has started getting some response from Bollywood. “Sargoshiyan” stars Shahbaz Khan, Sara Khan and Fareeda Jalal. “The…

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Wet weather imminent but snowfall less likely: MeT

Editor

Amid apprehensions fuelled by a barrage of news reports that snowfall may occur on 9th of this month, officials said that a weak Western Disturbance was hovering above Kashmir valley likely to result in slight to moderate rainfall with low chances of snowfall. “We are likely to witness rainfall on 10th and 11th,” Director MeT, Sonam Lotus told. “I cannot say for certain that there would be no snowfall but if rainfall persists throughout the night, we might see one,” he said, adding that chances of snowfall were still least.…

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Good response to chopper service for tourists

Editor

Over the last two weeks, there had been a “good response” to the first-ever helicopter service to the tourist resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam. It had been flagged off by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed targeting high-end tourists to the Valley. “Although there are less bookings, at least 40 per cent of the enquiries every day are pertaining to the helicopter service,” said an official of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation. These enquiries are mostly related to the helicopter service to Gulmarg and Pahalgam and air safaris over…

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Centre plans to set up IIM in Jammu and Kashmir

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The Centre is planning to set up an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Jammu and Kashmir and the state government has been requested to identify suitable land for this purpose, the government today said. HRD Minister Smriti Irani shared this information in Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question. “The Union Government has proposed to establish an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state government of J&K have been requested to identify suitable land for the purpose,” Irani said in…

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Over Rs 1,600 crore spent on relief, rehab of Kashmiri migrants this year

Editor

An amount of Rs 1663.92 crore has been incurred on relief and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants till September this year under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) of Home Ministry, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. The expenditure incurred by the Jammu and Kashmir government on relief and rehabilitation of the migrants is being reimbursed by the Home Ministry under SRE (Relief and Rehabilitation), Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said while giving details of packages of the Government from time to time for Kashmiri migrants, who left the Valley…

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India, Pak get back to the dialogue table, but people of Kashmir have little hope

Editor

India and Pakistan may have finally ended their diplomatic deadlock with the meeting of National Security Advisors in Bangkok, but the news has been met with little enthusiasm in the Kashmir Valley, where most people expressed pessimism about the future of the latest round of talks. On Monday morning in the heart of Lal Chowk, the commercial hub of Srinagar, vendors and shopkeepers were seen glued to local newspapers. Most papers gave a prominent mention to the NSA talks held between Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart, Lt Gen NSA…

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Kashmiri scientist ‘discovers’ TB cure

Editor

In a path breaking study, a young Kashmiri scientist has discovered a crucial protein secreted by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which if targeted by specific drugs will provide faster diagnosis and possible cure to tuberculosis. Imtiyaz Yaseen, 29, who discovered the protein RV1988, has been working on the project as part of his Phd thesis since 2011. “It was my professor who gave me the idea about existence of a possible protein at the heart of tuberculosis infection,” said Imtiyaz who is doing his Phd at Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics…

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Jammu Srinagar highway four laning

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Chief Secretary, B R Sharma Monday reviewed the progress on 4 Lane Srinagar-Jammu highway construction in a meeting, he chaired here, an official spokesman said. Chief Secretary, he said, received brief on the action taken with respect to the directions given earlier to address issues impeding the construction work in certain portions of the vital highway, only road connecting Kashmir with rest of the country. Deputy Commissioners of Srinagar, Anantnag, Ramban, Udhampur reported substantial progress in addressing listed bottlenecks primarly related to land acquisition and award, removal of structures and…

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SC rejects Gulzar’s plea for transfer of case outside JK

Editor

Supreme Court of India has rejected the plea of fake faith healer Gulzar Ahmad Bhat (Peer) for transfer of his case from J&K high court to any other state. A division bench of Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla and Justice Amitabh Roy rejected the plea of the fake healer. However, the apex court asked the Chief Justice of J&K High Court to transfer the case to Jammu chapter of the court. Bhat, through his counsel, pleaded that there is threat to his lawyer in Kashmir and that lawyers in Kashmir refuse to…

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