Year: 2017

Srinagar braves season’s coldest night, rain likely on Tuesday

Editor

Jammu and Kashmir summer capital Srinagar braved the coldest night of the season with the temperature dropping below the freezing point, as the Met office said the dry spell in the Valley was likely to end this week. The temperature dipped to minus 0.7 degree Celsius–three notches below the normal–in Srinagar on Sunday night, a Met department official said. The minimum temperature at other places in the Valley, except in Kokernag in south Kashmir, stayed below the freezing point. Kokernag recorded a low of 3.degree 6 C. The minimum temperature…

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90% dip in Stone-Pelting incidents in Kashmir in 2017: S P Vaid

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Jammu and Kashmir Police chief S P Vaid has said that there has been a 90 per cent dip in incidents of stone-pelting in Kashmir Valley this year as compared to the last year and credited the people of Kashmir for the improvement in the situation. NIA raids, he said, were not alone responsible for the change in situation in the Kashmir Valley and maintained there were multiple factors at play including demonetisation and action against top militant commanders. The Director General of Police said it was normal to witness…

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50,000 Pilgrims at Vaishno Devi shrine per day as National Green Tribunal caps number

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Only 50,000 pilgrims will be allowed to visit the Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu to avoid any untoward incident, the National Green Tribunal directed on Monday. The green panel also said that a new path to the shrine exclusively for pedestrians and battery-operated cars will be opened from November 24. The NGT directed that no horses or mules shall be allowed on the new route to the shrine and these animals shall be removed slowly from the old path as well. It also directed the authorities to impose a fine…

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From Shastri to Sharma, how Central govts have tried to bring peace to Kashmir

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The People Next Door—The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan narrates that the eruption of this agitation in Kashmir hurt Nehru’s self-esteem, much more than the defeat at the hands of China a year ago Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had believed that there was not much resistance and opposition in the streets to the dismissal of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah from the prime ministership of J&K in August 1953. Nehru had assumed that Kashmir had returned to normal and the general public had compromised with the status quo. But when…

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Strong earthquake hits Iraq and Iran, killing at least 145

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A magnitude 7.3 earthquake hit the region around the border between Iran and Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 145 people state media in the two countries said, as rescuers searched for dozens trapped under rubble. At least 141 people were killed in Iran, Behnam Saeedi, a spokesman for Iran’s National Disaster Management Organization, said on the state television. More than 850 were injured, he said. The earthquake was felt in several provinces of Iran but the hardest hit province was Kermanshah, which announced three days of mourning. More than…

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VoxPop – What changed after Darbar Move?

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Secretariat and most of the government offices moved to Jammu and Kashmir’s winter capital, Jammu, this month. This reporter spoke to people in Srinagar to know if they noticed any change after the Darbar Move. “Darbar move has left an impact on many things in the city. There are heavy power cuts in many areas and no one [in the government] is concerned about the problems faced by people; it makes the general public suffer.” Abdul Majeed Dar “In summers our ministers raise slogans that we will get our power…

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Business Leaders suggest measures on revival of ‘Shattered’ economy

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Kashmir’s business associations on Sunday participated enthusiastically in the first-ever business conclave here to put forth their problems and suggestions on revival of the Valley’s economy. At the conclave organised by the Kashmir Inc, the J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was the chief guest while finance minister Haseeb Drabu was the guest of honour. In his opening remarks, president, Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Muhammad Ashraf Mir spoke about the present position of businesses in Kashmir. He said that businesses in Valley have been suffering from nineties till date,…

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RSS has historically dreamed of making Kashmir a Hindu State: A G Noorani

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Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is working on a “calculated campaign” with the aim of reversing the “march of history since 1947 and restore Hindu Raj” in Jammu and Kashmir, top Kashmir expert and constitutional lawyer A G Noorani believes. He sees the demand for a holiday on Hari Singh’s birthday and the subsequent resignation of Dr Karan Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh from ruling PDP, as part of the same campaign. “Gulab Singh was not the founder of the State of Jammu and Kashmir,” the acclaimed author and lawyer, who was…

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Autumn – the season of colours

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Birchbark was used as paper by humans thousands years back and it now needs our protection. With the onset of autumn most of the greenery turns into golden in Kashmir valley. The leaves of Chinar turn red in this season. Similarly, before fall, the leaves of other common trees too change colors, giving amazing look in the cities and countryside. Like Chinar, the Canadian and Japanese maple trees, planted in some public gardens and private parkland here, also change their colors.Like other seasons autumn brings joy to the nature lovers.…

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How a bureaucrat ‘Sabotaged’ two major power schemes to allow outside agencies take over

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Tendering of two projects that would have strengthened power distribution system in Kashmir was cleared thrice by power department’s own committees. However, commissioner secretary power Dheeraj Gupta got an outside agency to scrutinise the tendering once again, which eventually landed the project in the kitty of a central public sector undertaking. Official data accessed by Kashmir Post show that power department’s contract committee, which has all chief engineers concerned as members and development commissioner power its head, had cleared the tenders for the Rs 598-crore Prime Minister’s Development Plan (PMDP-Rural)…

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