Year: 2017

To baptize students four government schools adopting CBSE in 2018

Editor

The government has decided to take CBSE route to baptize students of SP Higher Secondary School and Amira Kadal Girls Higher Secondary School that remained in news for student protests and stone-pelting against rights violations. The two schools in the heart of the summer capital, Srinagar remained in news for frequent student protests and stone pelting and rights violations last year. Now the State government is trying an image makeover of the two schools by making them model schools with switchover to Central Board of School Education (CBSE) pattern. Presently,…

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Subway on cards to unclog Jahangir Chowk Airport road

Editor

The state government has decided to construct a subway to decongest the Jehangir Chowk-Airport road. “The city traffic authorities and superintending engineer of the Public Works Department have been asked to visit the Barzulla bridge and submit a report about the feasibility of an underpass for the movement of traffic,” reads a communication from the office of Baseer Khan, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir. Also, to avoid traffic jams due to wrong parking, the authorities have identified 28 parking slots in Srinagar. The Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, and the SSP (Traffic) have been…

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Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rears its head in Kashmir

Editor

It is roping in locals for terrain knowledge, and targeting suspected informants. Terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), once virtually wiped out from Kashmir, is back in action and has consolidated its base giving security forces cause for serious concern. “The JeM has captured the area of Lashkar-e-Taiba. The LeT is on the wane now. In a change of tactic, they have taken a lot of locals into the ranks as they have terrain knowledge,” a senior Army officer said. The JeM is full of foreign terrorists who infiltrated from across the…

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If you won’t give autonomy, everyone will seek azadi: Farooq Abdullah

Editor

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has said that the efforts of the government of India’s “special representative” for Kashmir can move forward only if his final report is tabled in the two Houses of the Parliament for discussion. He also stressed that New Delhi also needed to explain what it wished to achieve by appointing Dineshwar Sharma as its special representative for talks on Kashmir. Abdullah, the former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said that different voices emerging from the power corridors had reduced Sharma to a “zero even…

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Only businessmen doing ‘Jihad’ in Kashmir: Haseeb Drabu

Editor

Acknowledging that economic scenario in Kashmir is “distressing”, the finance minister Haseeb Drabu said on Sunday that businessmen in Kashmir are “the only ones doing ‘jihad’ as they are fighting against all odds.” Speaking at the first business conclave held here, he said: “I have being stating this that businessmen in Kashmir are the only ones doing ‘jihad’ as they are fighting with the government for getting basic services; they fight against the situation. I have nothing but respect, admiration for anybody who is even investing Rs 100 in his…

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Panchayat polls from Dec 1, Mehbooba Mufti tells Rajnath Singh

Editor

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has committed to the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh that her government would kick-start the process to hold the much-delayed panchayat elections from December 1. Mehbooba told the Home Minister that she would be undertaking the exercise of restoring the exercise in a quite earnest way and that there would be no further delay in holding of the panchayat elections. The Chief Minister made this commitment during her meeting with the Home Minister on October 26, when she was asked specifically as to when the panchayat…

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Notice to Yasin Malik forced resistance camp to make a U-Turn on talks scheduled on Nov 4

Editor

The Kashmiri separatists had made up their mind to give another try to an engagement with New Delhi and also to bring Pakistan on board as latest as November 4, but a notice to JKLF chief Yasin Malik the very same day made them do a U-turn and reject the talks offer in almost absolute terms. “They felt the space to operate for the Hurriyat Conference was being completely squeezed. Since there was no back channel at work, they thought it was time to tell Delhi that separatists cannot be…

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Kashmir Valley may soon enjoy season’s first snowfall due to western disturbances

Editor

It seems that winter is all set to make onset over the hilly states of North India. All thanks to the fresh Western Disturbance which is approaching the Western Himalayas around November 13. Weather across Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand has been almost dry for last many days. Though on and off Western Disturbances were travelling across Western Himalayas but they were feeble in nature and thus, failed to give any weather activity over the region. First spell of winter rains in Punjab, Delhi, Hary… Dense fog to…

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Explore the culture of the Shina-speaking Dards, Gurez and Tulail (Talial) Valleys, where the Dards Live

Editor

Explore the culture of the Shina-speaking Dards, one of Kashmir’s oldest tribes The flight from Delhi is on time and I’m soon speeding to the Tourist Reception Centre in Srinagar to collect the precious permit which will grant me access to Kashmir’s legendary Gurez Valley. Here, the likes of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Franklin D Roosevelt went riding and trekking, before the troubles closed the valley off to us mere mortals. But no longer, with tourists increasingly making their way across the Razdan Pass to remote Gurez. Dr…

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Long dry spells across Kashmir an ‘Emerging Trend’ as well serious concern

Editor

Director meteorological department Srinagar Sonam Lotus on Friday said that an analysis of the weather data of the past decade shows a trend of prolonged dry spells emerging in Kashmir. This year, there has been no rainfall since September 10. “We have a dry spell for the past 61 days. As per our records, it was not the case in Kashmir. We have made analysis that a trend of prolonged dry spell is emerging in Kashmir during the past few years. Last time it rained, it was only 4mm of…

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