SRINAGAR: Irrigation and Flood Control division in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district has asked residents to remove illegal encroachments over Jhelum river banks and other water bodies within the period of seven days, failing which strict action would be taken against the encroachers.
According to a notice people who have encroached over the Irrigation and Flood control (I&FC) land in the district have been asked to remove encroachments within seven days.
“If any person fails to remove the encroachment, the department would swung into action and people have to pay the charges of the same,” it reads.
It reads strict action under the law would be taken against the people who fail to remove illegal encroachments.
As per officials separate eviction notices have been issued to residents across the district for the same. (KNO)
SRINAGAR: A 35-year old man died in an road accident in Hajin town of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday late evening.
Quoting an official the news agency KNO reported that the man identified as Nisar Ahmed Dar son of Gh Ahmed Dar (35) of Shahgund suffered critical injuries after a car he was traveling in met with an accident at Bonikhan area.
He said soon after the accident, Dar was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival.
“After conducting medico-legal formalities the body will be handed over to his family members,” he said.
SRINAGAR: Amid Prevailing Inclement Weather Conditions, Jammu And Kashmir Disaster Management Authority (JKDMA) Saturday issued avalanche warning for twelve districts in upcoming 24 hours.
The DMA, as per GNS, issued a ‘Medium Level’ warning above 2000 to 2500 metres over Anantnag, Bandipora, Baramulla, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Kulgam, Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch Rajouri and Reasi districts.
The authority also expressed apprehension of ‘Low Level’ avalanche occurrence above 2200 metres over Anantnag, Kulgam and Ramban district.
People living in the specified areas have been advised to take precautions and avoid venturing in the avalanche prone areas.
SRINAGAR: The flight operations at Srinagar international Airport resumed on Saturday after remaining temporarily suspended due to the snowfall and low visibility, officials said.
Quoting Director Srinagar Airport, Kuldeep Singh news agency KNO reported that the flight operations have resumed at Srinagar airport.
“The flight operations have resumed at Srinagar airport and no flight has been cancelled,” the official said.
Earlier in the morning, the flight operations were suspended temporarily at Srinagar airport due to the snowfall and poor visibility.
SRINAGAR: Vehicular movement on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway was partially restored partially on Saturday after remaining closed for three days, officials said here
Quoting an official the news agency KNO reported that the highway was blocked since Thursday evening due to landslides and shooting stones triggered by rains near Mehar, Panthyal, Magarkot and Cafeteria Morh.
He said after completion of clearance operation, movement of vehicles has been partially restored on the highway.
The official said that due to the blockade of the highway, around 1000 of Light Motor Vehicles (LMVs) and Heavy Motor Vehicles (HMVs) were stranded at various locations since three days.
“The movement of vehicles would remain normal if weather remains fair,” he added.
An artist’s song went viral because everyone hated it. Welcome to the world of cringe choices, writesRaashid Andrabi while listing the top Kashmiri music content that people consumed online in 2022
An artwork displaying the age-old dictum – do not watch, do not talk and do not hear.
On August 5, 2018, when the switches on communication were put off, the depression loomed large over Kashmir. Gradually the home-restricted enforced idleness, in a class of people paved way for content creation. It was slow, painful and costly but it got some youngsters busy. On February 2021, when the 4G internet was finally restored after around 18 months, there was a spike in content consumption. As the demand shot up, the content creators scrambled to keep the supplies ready for upload.
From news to music, people now consume everything online. Unlike past when overcrowded buses and the shop fronts would decide which number is popular, the internet now offers the precise details of who did what and how it topped the chart. In 2022, the top ten ‘songs’ offer an interesting mix. What is interesting is that Noor Mohammad who was No 10 in TheNewsCaravan 2021 listing is part of the No 1 in the 2023 list for 2022. Barring Ishfaq Kawa and Umar Nazir, none of the seven others is in the top 10 in 2022 music content consumption in the Kashmiri language.
Nazneen
Finally, the tinsel town took over. Mumbai’s music composers Salim and Sulaiman Merchant tied up with Raj Pandit and featured Kashmir’s folk singer, Noor Mohammad to make a perfect number. Premiered on November 18, 2022, it has one crore views on YouTube, 57k on Facebook and 345k on Instagram. Mostly Ghulam Nabi Doolwal’s poem Yareh Myaneh Nazneeeh Yeh Chu Mulaqat, the song starts with a Lal Ded Vaakh. Nazneen means charming.
A perfectly choreographed number, it has a bunch of 15 singers and instrumentalists with Suliman on a Tumbakhnari. The focus remains on the Rabab-playing Noor Mohammad, a remote north Kashmir singer discovered for the virtual world by TheNewsCaravan, nearly five years ago. Raj Pandit, who also sings with Noor, termed the response “overwhelming” and “absolutely unreal!”.
Dilbar
The rise of Ishfaq Kawa from Shadipora (Sumbal) is phenomenal. Introduced to Kashmir by Nundi Bani, a tearful melancholy dedicated to mothers who lost their sons, the 2-years old song has already been watched by more than 1.5 crore people. In 2022, it was his Dilbar (lover) that already has 70 lakh views on his YouTube, 300k on Facebook. In the Reels section of Instagram, the song has been remixed for more than 5000 times making it one of the most viral Kashmiri songs of 2022.
Ishfaq Kawa, one of the Kashmir singers who rules the virtual world of Kashmir music
“In 2019, when I returned to my room after my performance in a show, all of a sudden, a melody started playing in my head,” Kawa said. “I devoted a week to writing this and I released it after around three years.”
With simple lyrics sung in a powerful soulful voice, the romantic number is popular with teenagers.
Sang Dil
Maahi Aamir (singer)
In October 2017, Mahi Aamir, a young performer started Kashmiri Rounders, a YouTube channel, now with more than 10 lakh subscribers. It is mostly about comedy but sometimes it dabbles with music too. In March 2022, it uploaded a ‘song’ Sanag Dil (Hardheartedness) that got a whopping 53 lakh views. Though filmed well, the romantic number’s lyrics are “manufactured” by Umi A Feem. Despite being watched hugely, its lyrics were adversely commented on. “This video does to poetry what WhatsApp has done to English,” one broadcaster commented when approached by this reporter. Regardless of this, it was watched by 30 thousand people on Facebook too.
Mohabatuk Niyaai
Sun by Moin Raja and Aahil Raja, Mohabatuk Niyaai (conflict of love) was watched by 40 lakh people. This is despite the fact that many people think it isn’t music at all. “Music is a serious art form,” a well-known Kashmir-based composer and singer said. “The level of degradation has been so great now even laymen can be singers.”
The song uploaded on the youtube channel Moin Raja Official (90k subscribers) was seemingly recorded in a room. The song’s lyrics are not particularly romantic. The duo vocalists have made an attempt to sing the traditional Kashmiri song in a contemporary style, but they have failed horribly.
Roye Choun
With Roye Choun (Your Face), Ishfaq Kawa is taking the second slot in the top-singer singer10 chart of 2022. It has cumulative views of nearly 40 lakh including almost half of a million on Facebook. Co-written by Kawa and Muntazir Yassir, it is Kawa’s voice that is the prime attraction. Basit Fazli of Qalaam Studio produced the music, and Sheikh Gufran and Faiz Allie served as the DOP and director respectively.
Be Dard Dadi Chane
Released by Mashq TalksPodcast YouTube channel on August 21, 2022, this song by the singing sensation Ayaan Sajad’s was watched by 30 lakh times and is still growing. Given the new discovery, Ayaan was profiled by formal and social media that garnered millions of views on other platforms.
On TheNewsCaravan’s diverse platforms, his interview mixed with the song had more than 16 lakh views. The song has been praised all around the world by Kashmiri-speaking populations for the mesmerizing voice of the young Ayaan Sajad as well as the composition. It is sort of a fusion using famous Kashmir sufi poet Shamas Fakir and the mesmerising voice of the emerging singer Ayaan Sajad, who hails from the Anantnag. The song was recreated in the remix section of reels more than 40 thousand times making it one of Kashmir’s most famous songs of 2022.
Lealli
Sung by Umar Nazir, Lealli song got 26 lakh views on YouTube. A skilled singer, Nazir began singing as a young boy and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Mumbai. The song is an emotional outburst of a lover who praises her lady love in absentia and ‘rips’ his heart out while crying about his desperation and frustration. Lealli in Kashmir is what Laila is to the world. Unlike lyrics, visuals are powerful and it features the traditional bache kout, a dancing lad in mustard fields with modern exhilarating dance sequences as well.
Umer Nazir (Singer)
“I anticipated the affection and support from Kashmir. I have been singing for a while, and although I sing in a variety of genres, I tend to favour upbeat music,” Umar said. “Traditional Kashmiri songs pique my attention, and I may sing them in the near future.”
Zooni
Arafat Bhat, 11, uploads on his Rap-Kid Arafat YouTube channel. Hailing from Prechoo village in Pulwama, the young boy’s talent has been praised throughout Kashmir. More than 15 lakh people have watched his song Zooni. Besides, it has about 350 thousand views on Facebook and Instagram. The song is a mashup of Kashmiri and Urdu. Loosely written lyrics, the number addresses an elusive, Zooni, a lover and tells her what the rest of the world feels about her.
Tata Sumo
Though neither well-written nor better-performed, Tata Sumo is one of the many pieces of cringe content that people like. Sung by Mir Parvaiz and Amreena Bhat, it has garnered around 15 lakh views on YouTube. Besides, the ‘song’ has about a million views on several pages that are unrelated to the song’s actual vocalists. It is basically a “musical” conversation between two lovers, one of whom is a Sumo driver.
10. Jhaanjar
The song Jhaanjar (Cymbals), sung by Adil and the lyrics written by Basit Malik gathered around 1.3 million views in just four months on the personal youtube channel of the singer Adil Lucky.
The song is produced by Dardil Shabir while the music to it was given by JCI studio. The song has received a lot of praise for using the basic traditional Kashmiri style with all the local instrumentals like Tumbaknari and Jhaanjar.
SRINAGAR: Snow is continuing to fall in Kashmir Valley including Srinagar and hilly areas of Jammu region on Saturday morning, officials said. Also minimum temperature recorded a drop across J&K with Gulmarg recording a low of minus 8.3°C.
“Widespread light to moderate snowfall and rain was expected in Kashmir and hilly areas of Jammu with chances of heavy snowfall over higher reaches during next 24 hours,” news agency GNS quoted a meteorological department official as having GNS. The snow started this morning and when this report was filed, it was continuing.
Meanwhile, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 0.5°C against 0.7°C on the previous night. Today’s minimum temperature, he said, was above normal by 0.3°C for the summer capital.
Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of 0.0°C against 1.8°C on the previous night and it was 1.0°C above normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of minus 2.4°C against minus 0.3°C on the previous night and it was 2.6°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Kokernag recorded a low of minus 0.6°C against minus 0.6°C on the previous night and it was 0.4°C below normal for the place, the officials said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of minus 8.3°C against minus 4.0°C on the previous night and it was 2.1°C below normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.
In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at minus 1.0°C against minus 0.5°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C above normal for the north Kashmir area.
Jammu recorded a low of 9.5°C against 12.8°C on the previous night. It was 0.6°C below normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.
Banihal, he said, recorded a low of 1.8°C (above normal by 0.6°C), Batote 2.4°C (below normal by 0.2°C), Katra 8.8°C (0.7°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 1.1°C (0.9°C above normal).
Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 10.4°C and minus 6.7°C respectively, the official said.
While Chillai-Kalan, the 40-day long harsh winter period that started on December 21 has ended, Kashmir is under the grip of a 20-day-long period called ‘Chillai-Khurd’. It will be followed by a 10-day-long period ‘Chillai-Bachha’ (baby cold) which is from February 20 to March 1.
SRINAGAR: All flights have been delayed due to continuous snowfall, Srinagar airport director Kuldeep Singh Rishi has informed.
The visibility is only 500 metres, he added. To avoid inconvenience and congestion, passengers have been asked to check the status of the flight before coming to the airport, Rishi added.
visibility reduced to 500 M continuous snowfall No flight operations since morning We are waitning for weather to improve
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Government has unveiled a scheme to give Rs. 2.5 lakh to inter-caste marriages involving a dalit.
The scheme has been unveiled after the Administrative Council gave a go-ahead for the same. The scheme has been framed for implementation of the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1995 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act 1989.
To avail benefits of the scheme, one of the spouses in the inter-marriage caste should belong to Schedule Caste community as mentioned under Scheduled Caste List (out of 13 Castes) specified in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 for J&K and the other is a non-Scheduled Caste Hindu.
As per guidelines of the scheme, the marriage should be valid as per the law and duly registered under the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and a registration certificate to this effect issued by the competent authority must be furnished by the beneficiaries.
The case for assistance shall only be valid if submitted strictly within six months from the date of marriage, as indicated on the marriage registration certificate produced at the time of submission of application.
The total amount of incentive will be released to the eligible couple in a single installment through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to the joint account of the couple in any government/nationalized bank in the form of fixed deposit (FD) with a lock-in period of three years.
