Year: 2017

Alert! Solar eclipse can leave you blind: Dr Nisar ul Hassan

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With solar eclipse nearing, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today advised that looking directly at the sun during eclipse with bare eyes could cause permanent damage to your eyes. President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement said that watching solar eclipse without protective gear could lead to permanent reduction in vision and even blindness. On Monday, August 21, a total solar eclipse will be witnessed for the first time in 99 years. “Under no circumstances should people stare into the sun without eye-protection as that can leave them blind.”

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Twist to Article 35A row, key file goes missing from Home Ministry

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A key Kashmir file justifying the insertion of Article 35A into the Constitution has gone missing from the high security vaults of North Block in New Delhi, a media report said today. The incident comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a petition by an RSS-backed NGO seeking the abrogation of the Article, which bars outsiders from acquiring land or jobs in Jammu and Kashmir. “A 63-year-old file containing legal opinion on Article 35A has vanished from North Block’s high-security vaults at a time the provision, which…

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100 Open-sky schools in Jammu to get buildings

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Students in remote areas of the district face hardships due to lack of proper infrastructure at open-sky schools, which functioning without buildings and often face closure due to bad weather. Nearly 100 open-sky schools in Jammu district, which often face closure due to bad weather, will get buildings by this year-end under the Jammu and Kashmir government’s ‘TAMIER’ project, an official said on Sunday. Sub-divisional magistrates have been assigned the job of supervising the construction of these buildings by the rural development department, District Development Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said.…

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Stone pelting cases declining in Kashmir: Rajnath Singh

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Incidents of stone-throwing have reduced in Jammu and Kashmir due to the role of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said today. He said incidents of naxalism, terrorism and extremism have also seen a downward trend in the last three years. “You have seen the role of the NIA in Jammu and Kashmir, where incidents of stone-throwing have come down. We have taken a pledge for India’s security and strict action is being taken for this. We will accept challenges and in the past three years,…

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Supreme Court agrees to examine plea of Pathribal fake encounter Victim’s Kin

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Issues notices to GoI, Army and CBI; lists case for final disposal after 6 weeks The Supreme Court Friday said it would examine a plea filed by the family members of five civilians killed in a fake encounter in Pathribal area of south Kashmir in 2000, seeking CBI trial against the army personnel purportedly involved. The matter reached the apex court after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had dismissed the plea of family members last year. “Issue notice. Let the matter be listed for final disposal after six weeks,”…

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Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah eyeing power via Article 35A: BJP

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BJP leader S. Prakash said that Abdullah is creating unwarranted noise around the provision, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified that no proposal in this regard has been put forth in front of the Centre. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said that former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is trying to politicize Article 35 (A) issue to come to power. BJP leader S. Prakash said that Abdullah is creating unwarranted noise around the provision, as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified that no…

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Bipin Rawat Army Chief General to review security in Ladakh

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In a significant development, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat will review the security scenario in eastern Ladakh over the weekend. His visit comes after Indian and Chinese troops clashed at a spot, north of the Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, on August 15. A subsequent meeting of the military commanders of the two countries resolved to work at the ‘existing peace mechanisms’. The Army Chief will be briefed by the Leh-based 14 Corps Commander on Sunday. The Northern Command chief, entire top brass of the 14 Corps and the local…

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BJP opposes PDP decision to send ministers to Delhi to protect Article 35A

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The BJP has opposed the decision of its coalition partner Peoples Democratic Party to send its four Cabinet ministers to the Capital for mobilising legal and political support for Article 35A. The party has made it clear that the state government has nothing to do with the visit amid the nationwide debate on this provision of the Indian Constitution. “No decision has been taken at the government level in this regard. Some ministers may be going to Delhi on their own as members of the PDP but not as representatives…

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Kashmir Industrialists call Centre’s tax exemption decision ‘Discriminatory’

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Calling the central government’s recent tax exemption announcement for Jammu and Kashmir ‘discriminatory as is going to benefit only handful of industrial units in the state’, the Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) today expressed surprise over the statements of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her three cabinet colleagues welcoming the decision. FCIK also sought J&K Government’s clarification on how the centre’s is going to boost and promote the industrial development in the state. On August 16, the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the extension in tax exemption…

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Is PM Modi signalling a shift on Kashmir?

Editor

Nevertheless, the observation that Kashmir will normalise “not with guns or invective but only if we embrace the people of Kashmir” is welcome. Do Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on Kashmir in his Independence Day address augur a change of gear in the government’s year-long build-up of violence, hatred and alienation, which have combined to produce India’s most stubborn internal security challenge that is discomfiting for this country’s self-image as a secular democracy? In light of the receding trust quotient of this government, not just in the Kashmir Valley but…

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