SRINAGAR: To keep pace with latest state of the art technology coupled with empowering consumers with transparency, KPDCL will register all prospective consumers applying for new connection on prepaid basis.
In a statement, a spokesperson said with this major step towards better reforms, consumers who are applying for new connections shall be provided smart meters with prepaid functionality for bill payment.
The statement reads the consumers applying for new connection have to apply online at on KPDCL website www.kpdcl.jkpdd.net.
“The consumer shall deposit the security and first prepaid recharge corresponding to sanctioned load to energize the smart meter. LG has already launched the Smart Bill Sahuliyat APP(PWA), SMART BS on February27 to start the new era of transparency where in consumer can check, manage and pay their bills on same portal.”
It added consumers can additionally make use of any choice of online payment gateway including “mpay” or can even recharge through JK Bank Branch in same manner as post paid bill payment.
“The new smart meter shall be provided and installed by KPDCL. This latest development will bring more transparency in power sector reforms of Kashmir Valley and provide reliable power supply by demand side management at consumer level,” it reads. (KNO)
SRINAGAR: The government has earmarked around 48,301 kanals of land, in view of the establishment of forty two new Industrial Estates that are coming up in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, media reports said.
As per media reports, 5327 online applications were received on the Single Window Portal for allotment of land to set up industrial units with investment and employment potential of Rs 65,000 crore and 3.12 lakh persons respectively. Of these, 3379 applications have been approved so far with proposed investment of Rs 34,294 crore and employment potential of 1.54 lakh persons.
Daily Excelsior reported that at present 5294 industrial units are functioning in 67 Industrial Estates developed by SIDCO and SICOP on 37,341 kanals land thereby providing employment to 1.09 lakh people.
Additional 48,301 kanals of land has been earmarked for development of 42 new Industrial Estates. Of these, IRCON and NBCC will be developing 19 new Industrial Estates on priority and draft Memorandum of Understanding is being finalized in this regard by the Industries and Commerce Department, Excelsior reported, adding that a private investment of Rs 1539.87 crore has been grounded during the Financial Year 2022-23 (ending January 2023), out of which Rs 949.21 crore is for 552 units which have commenced productions and operations.
SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Waqf Board has issued guidelines for schools under its jurisdiction to implement reformative measures in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020. The Board has stated that there will be no homework for students up to class 2 and no school bags for nursery and UKG students.
According to a circular issued by the Waqf Board, schools are instructed to follow a daily, monthly, and annual timetable and schedule of activities. The daily timetable is to have six periods, each lasting 30 minutes, for teaching subjects. Five periods are to be reserved for compulsory subjects, such as English, Maths, Science, Social Science, and Urdu, and the sixth period is to be utilized for teaching optional subjects, such as Computers, Kashmiri, Arabic, Islamiyat, and Sufi Saints Literature, on a rotational basis.
The circular further states that schools must reserve one hour every day for Extra-curricular Activities, which should be split into two parts of 30 minutes each in the first and second half of the day.
The guidelines state that a house system should be established in every school for intra-school co-curricular and sports competitions. To promote a sense of belongingness and healthy competition among students, school heads are instructed to divide students into four houses: senior boys, senior girls, junior boys, and junior girls. The houses should be named after famous Sufi Saints Hazrat Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani (R.A), Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani (R.A), Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoom (R.A), and Hazrat Shah-e-Hamadan (R.A).
The sports calendar for the year should include competitions in sports activities, and competitions should also be held throughout the year in co-curricular activities. Three days every month should be reserved solely for sports and co-curricular competitions, with no academic activities to be carried out on those days.
School authorities must allocate at least one period of thirty minutes per month for house meetings, so that house committee members can interact, motivate, and plan house activities under the guidance of their respective house masters.
In September and October, Inter Waqf School Competitions will be held and the winners rewarded. Morning assembly will consist of news headlines, a thought for the day, a brief talent show of individual or group students, amazing facts, personality of the day, volunteer for a minute, and other exciting stuff, after brief prayers. Lectures by teachers during morning assembly will be avoided.
Additionally, there will be no school bag for classes nursery to UKG and no homework for classes from nursery to 2nd. The school bag policy and NEP-2020 guidelines in this regard will be strictly followed. An orientation program for school heads regarding the execution of proposed changes will be held separately. (KNO)
SRINAGAR: ECNU Shanghai Government Scholarship is inviting applications for international students who want to pursue undergraduate, graduate or PhD programs at East China Normal University. The scholarship is fully funded.
Study fields include faculty of Economics and Management, School of Humanities and Social Science, School of Social Development, School of Foreign Languages etc.
In order to be eligible applicants must be a non-Chinese citizen and must be in good health. Applicants need to have an excellent educational background. For the bachelor’s degree, applicants must be under 25 and have a high school degree. Applicants who want a master’s degree must be under 35 and have a bachelor’s degree and for the doctoral degree, applicants must be under 40 and have a master’s degree. Candidates are not eligible if they have availed any other Chinese government scholarship before.
Documents required for graduate admissions include academic transcripts of the student , two recommendation letters ,student’s passport copy, motivation letter, student’s study plan, acceptance letter (for Ph.D.), health certificate , non-criminal certificate and a language proficiency certificate
The selected candidates will get a full tuition fee waiver and free accommodation. Students will also receive free medical insurance.
Undergraduate students will receive a monthly stipend of 2500 Chinese yuan (INR 29,796.46) and Master’s program students will receive a monthly allowance of 3000 Chinese yuan (INR 35,755.75)
The application deadline is: 10 May, 2023.
For further information and to apply you can visit:
With a huge network of colleges and a lot of enrolment, the students are dissatisfied with the pace and process of the education they get, reports Babra Wani
Girl students of a college in Srinagar enjoying the sunshine on the premises of the college. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
With her eyes glued to her mobile, Saima (name changed) is watching a lecture on Scaler and Vector quantities. With the uncertainty of the presence of teachers in her school looming large, she has been preparing for her upcoming examination virtually.
A student of Government Degree College, Kangan, Saima prefers not to attend the college where she is enrolled for BSc. She stopped going to her college because of the “lack of permanent staff for her subjects.” The deficit was managed by contractual lecturers, who leave the college when their contracts expire. “I mean if we talk about the present, we have no teachers there and our exams are about to begin in a month,” she said.
The lack of permanent teachers and staff is not a one-college problem but a pan-higher education issue in Kashmir. It literally triggered a sort of a “scandal” when a college principal formally ordered teachers from unrelated subjects to “engage” students in absence of the relevant faculty.
Karnah Story
Just like Saima, Zahra (name changed) is concerned and worried about the lack of teachers. A fifth-semester BA student at Government Degree College Tanghdar, Zahra recalls how she was a happy girl when she passed her higher secondary examinations just to get admission to the college. The excitement, however, soon went down as she realised the harsh realities.
“Living in a remote area was already challenging enough,” Zahra said. “We already knew that our college will not provide us with the facilities but we never knew that our issues will never be even heard.”
For her, the lack of permanent staff is her biggest concern. “Due to staff issues, we suffer from a lot of academic loss as we are not able to cover the whole syllabus and hence rely completely on self-study to prepare for examinations,” Zahra said. “Ours is a remote area so if we students face any problems here, they are rarely addressed.”
Located some 67 km north of Srinagar, beyond the Sadhna Pass, Tanghdar(Karnah) is located literally on the line of control (LOC). The area remains closed for most of the winter and there are cases when the authorities had to retain the dead in mortuaries till the road opened. The college, established in 2008 has more than 700 students on its rolls. This load is being managed by seven permanent teachers and three contractual teachers!
The Tulail Story
For 20 years old Adnan (name changed) walking for five kilometres to reach the college seems to be a daily routine. In 2019, when he and his friends heard about the establishment of a degree college, they were excited. They thought their hardships will now slow down. “We just have two permanent teachers here, one for history and one for English,” Adnan said.
For more than sixty students enrolled with Government Degree College Tulail, there are only six teachers, with two permanent and four contractual. Located at a distance of 200 km from Srinagar, Tulailis part of Gurez, the new destination for naya Kashmir tourism. The college was established in 2019.
Supposed to help residents not to migrate – as most of Gurez lives between Bandipore and Srinagar, the college could have hugely contributed. Students, however, insist this is not the case.
“We have a history teacher, right?,” one student pointed out. “History as a subject is not taught here. I mean we have other subjects here but not history so technically we have no teachers to study from.”
These teachers engage students in classes organised on a shift basis. Students insist they have bigger issues. “We do not even have our separate principal. The principal of our college watches over two different colleges (the other one is at Dawar), we neither have professors, principal nor facilities here,” Adnan who is currently studying in BA third semester said.
Due to the lack of facilities, mostly a shortage of teachers, students prefer to stay home. This, they do after paying fees and costs for the degrees. Days ahead of the examination, the colleges start assessing attendance and enforcing shortages on them. “Tell me how does it make sense that students travel long distances for hours together, jeopardising their health to study here but there are no teachers? Not even a single official has ever visited us, we have been left to the mercy of the Lord,” a visibly upset Adnan complained.
The lack of staff is not the only issue for the colleges in Gurez. “Last year, when we were writing our examinations, we knew we were appearing for three subjects,” Adnan said. “It was during the examinations that the college told us we have to appear in two more subjects – the subjects we never knew. We were desperate for what to write and a day before we had to write the examination, they sent the syllabus of that subject.”
Students arrive at a college after a gap of nearly one year, following Covid19 safety guidelines issued by the government, in Srinagar, Monday, February 15, 2021. All the educational institutes including schools, colleges and universities in Jammu and Kashmir, which were closed in March last year in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. KL Image: Bilal Bahadur
The Kashmir Plains
The staff crisis is not a high-altitude issue. Even the colleges within and around Srinagar are suffering.
In Government Degree College, Sumbal, the students said the teachers for skill enhancement courses, which have been recently introduced, are not permanent. They are contractual and keep changing. “The continuous cycle of changing of these contractual teachers results in a month-long gap in the session,” one student said. “The month is wasted which is worrisome as it affects our studies.”
The Sumbal College was established in 2010 and has an enrolment of more than 2500 students. In the neighbouring degree college at Hajin, students are crying for a physical education teacher.
A Teacher Deficit
Subsequent governments in Jammu and Kashmir have gone into the creation of a huge network of colleges. Some villages that had put up huge struggles to get their middle schools upgraded into high schools are now addresses for the new colleges. There were around 161 colleges for general education with an overall enrolment of 151478 students manned by 5745 teachers by the end of 2020-21. With the onset of the National Education Policy (NEP-2020), the government made huge plans about improving higher education. It included making five autonomous degree-granting colleges into Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities, a sort of deemed universities. In fact, the government said three are already operating as autonomous colleges. There was a focus on skill and innovation.
Under NEP-2020, 30 colleges have been identified for the start of research and designated as Hub colleges. These are supposed to provide basic facilities of infrastructure and logistics to the rest of the colleges in their catchment.
On the ground, however, nothing much is visible. “How can these colleges become research centres, when prestigious colleges like Amar Singh College are yet to grant the right to its first and second-semester students to get into the library,” one student, speaking anonymously asked. “Students have been desperately seeking library cards but we are told the access to the library is permitted to higher semester students.”
The NAAC accreditation is the new mad race within colleges in which the assessment is mostly based on the infrastructure and the results – nobody is seeing, if at all, the students are taught in classrooms. Officials said 55 colleges in Jammu and Kashmir are NAAC accredited 17 more will be added to the list by December 2023. By 2025, 70 old colleges will be NAAC accredited.
Right now, most colleges are battling the faculty issue. This triggered a controversy when the management of a state-run women’s college in Baramulla asked the faculty from unrelated subjects to engage “classes of the departments (currently) without staff”.Teachers from Education, Physical Education, and Sports were asked to engage in the classes of Political Science; Chemistry faculty was assigned Public Administration; Botany teachers were supposed to engage in Economics; the Zoology department was given Social Work and Mathematics was to manage the Philosophy students.
This was the outcome of the higher education department not filling the vacancies on a temporary basis by the middle of March, almost a month after the colleges opened after the winter break. It created a sort of scandal and the college principal was asked to amend or withdraw the order. As it did not happen, the authorities issued a show cause notice. Insiders said the college asserted that the faults are at the policymaking level and not the college level.
A Generation Lost
For the last nearly two decades, the higher education department has been hiring teachers on an academic arrangement basis against a consolidated sum. They are disengaged every season. They lack any rights to leave, provident fund and other facilities that permanent faculty enjoy. Over the years they have been the main players in the higher education department.
“Every year, the government used to hire 800 to 1000 teachers on an academic arrangement basis,” Dr M Yousuf, one of the contractual lecturers said. “With the NEP, the requirement might have gone slightly up, maybe up to 1200.”
For a very long time, there was a rule in Jammu and Kashmir government that if somebody worked for the government for seven years, he or she has a right to be permanently hired. They had gone to court with the plea and secured an order directing authorities to ensure the people are not disturbed. So, every year, the government would hire them on priority. Post-2019, the government stopped extending this courtesy to them and instead started hiring new faces. Some of the contractual impacts by this decision in Jammu went to the supreme court and secured an order. Yousuf said while the order was implemented in Jammu, it was breached in Kashmir. Now, they have gone to CAT and are expecting a positive decision.
“This crisis ended up almost destroying their career of nearly 500 contractual teachers –mostly PhDs’, who served the department for 15 t 20 years and then the government stopped hiring them and they crossed the age bar,” Yousuf, one of these candidates, said. “Now we are no-bodies, we gave our entire life to these institutions and now we have nothing to do.”
Yousuf said the delay in hiring teachers on an academic arrangement basis is the main issue that is hitting the colleges right now. “There is a set norm for how many students a teacher must have but I know cases, where one teacher is assigned 600 students.”
Transportation Facilities
Teaching is just one part of the crisis. Students allege, there are other issues as well. Transportation is a key factor. Though almost every college has a transport facility, quite a few busses move out of the college.
“Some students in my college walk a distance of around 26 km to reach the college,” Adnan said. “Why we do not have the transport facility as other colleges have.”
In Government Degree College Kangan, the students have a similar complaint. “We have no transportation facility here, I mean that is basic,” one student said.
Various colleges have buses but lack the funds to hire a driver. In certain cases, they have drivers but not enough money to fuel the bus.
In the newly established Government Degree College Hajin, students allege the ground is in puddles, “Whenever it rains, the ground accumulates water and it becomes difficult to even walk through it let alone be any other thing,” Ahmad (name changed) who is currently enrolled in arts stream in the college said, “We don’t even have proper classrooms. In the main building only a few classes are taught, the rest of the classes are conducted in a hut which has a couple of rooms.” Besides, he said there is still an old building, which used to be a middle school in the past, on the ground there.
“Even if available, the washrooms are not located in proper settings,” he said.
Government Degree College Hajin is one of the 52 new colleges which were established in the year 2019.
City Colleges
Zubair (name changed) and his friends made a decision to get admitted to Amar Singh College, a prominent city college. As soon as he joined the first semester his perspective changed. A student in the second semester at present, Zubair had a list of issues to share, “You know there is no punctuality, I mean the classes are never conducted on time. The teachers are always late and never on time.”
Amar Singh College, Srinagar
The college, Zubair added, lacks hygiene, has dirty desks in classrooms, unclean washrooms and abundant stray dogs. This is in addition to the staff shortage. “We have been waiting since March for the teacher, as the contract of our previous teacher expired,” he said. The lack of mics in the classrooms is yet another concern for the students. “The classrooms are huge and the teachers are not audible to everybody in the class.”
The students said they have no access t the library. It has been done so easily. The college has not issued identity cards which are basic to entry into the library.
“This college has no proper gatekeeping and outsiders who are not even enrolled in our college get in and fight with the students of our college,” one female student said. “There is nobody who can check the people getting in.” Students confirmed the drug-peddling boys moving around.
Students of Women’s’ College Nawa Kadal alleged that the government is frequently shifting their principals. This, they said, is impacted the college.
In Women’s College MA Road, the students complained how the focus has been more on extra-curricular activities and not on education, “The classwork always suffers the most.”
Officials Admit
College managers and insiders admitted to the lot of issues they are facing. However, they insist they are not supposed to talk the way they used to talk earlier. Some of them agreed to talk in utmost anonymity.
“Yes, there is no college bus for students and the majority of the faculty positions are vacant except English and History,” echoing the thoughts of the students an official posted in Government Degree College, Tulail said. The official added that they have tried bringing it to the notice of authorities from time to time, “We had taken up the matter with our ex-principal secretary and he told that they were ready to sanction the college bus but it was not possible to engage any driver as there is a blanket ban on contractual or local fund recruitment.” He also lamented over the trend of teachers from Gurez and Tulail ensuring they are transferred to other places outside Gurez. “What can we expect from the teachers who are hired on a contractual basis.”
Most of the college managers approached to offer their side of the story but refused to talk. “Maybe next time,” one college principal said.
SRINAGAR: The Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships (QECS) offer a unique opportunity to study a two-year Master’s degree in a low or middle income Commonwealth country
The host countries for the scholarship programme are: Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Several universities offer these scholarships.
The scholarships are offered across 41 departments in the fields of science, engineering, arts, commerce, and IT.
The candidate must be a citizen of a Commonwealth country and meet the university’s course criteria. Additionally, the applicant must have earned a 2:1 or higher on their undergraduate degree to qualify for the programme.
Selected applicants will be offered full tuition fee coverage, a living allowance, and accommodations. Furthermore, the return of economic flights to the host country (from and to their home countries) will be provided as well.
Commonwealth Scholarship deadline for the academic year 2023-2024 is 24 May 2023.
SRINAGAR: The Kashmir Arts Emporium, located near the Abdullah Bridge in Srinagar, hosted an enthralling art exhibition on April 14, 2023, featuring the exquisite artworks of Dr Jahangeer Aslam Makhdoomi. Though a Doctor by profession, Dr Jahangeer’s passion for art dates back to his childhood and continues to thrive to this day.
Dr Jahangeer’s artistic inclinations lean towards realism rather than abstract art, and his artworks are a reflection of his love for nature. The beauty of nature is a constant source of inspiration for him, and he translates this into his paintings.
His profound observations and unique artistic style are a testament to his devotion to the arts. His paintings are a feast for the eyes, conveying a message of beauty, hope, and wonder.
At the exhibition, Dr Jahangeer showcased one of his artworks called “Still Life,” which portrays a simple moment where tea and biscuits are arranged on a table. He captures the beauty in the simplicity of the moment and believes that moments like these are often overlooked in our daily lives. However, when painted on canvas, the stillness of the moment is magnified, and its significance becomes more apparent.
Another painting, “The Shop Next Door,” depicts an old shop that brings back a wave of nostalgia, a memory that resonates with almost every Kashmiri child. Dr Jahangeer’s artwork beautifully captures the essence of the memory and evokes a sense of longing.
Speaking about his artistic techniques, Jahangeer revealed that he draws inspiration from Renaissance painters. His preference for realism over abstract art is apparent in his artworks that showcase the beauty of nature.
Dr Jahangeer believes in the importance of time management and limits his social media intake to balance his work as a doctor with his love for art. Typically, it takes him several weeks to a month to create a single painting, but the process brings him immense peace and contentment.
SRINAGAR: The 62-day long Shri Amarnathji Yatra will commence on July 1st this year and it will culminate on August 31.
Further, the registration through online and offline modes for Shri Amarnathji Yatra will start from April 17.
The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha while announcing the dates for holy pilgrimage and registration on Friday said the administration is committed to ensure smooth and hassle free pilgrimage.
“Hassle-free pilgrimage is top priority of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji and Home Minister Amit Shah Ji. The administration will provide best-in-class healthcare and other essential facilities to all the visiting devotees and service providers. Telecom services will be made operational prior to the commencement of Pilgrimage. All the stakeholder departments are working in coordination to ensure facilities for lodging, power, water, security and other arrangements for the smooth conduct of Yatra,” Manoj Sinha said.
The Yatra would commence simultaneously from both the routes – the Pahalgam track in Anantnag district and Baltal in Ganderbal district.
Manoj Sinha also directed the officials to ensure high levels of cleanliness and to take necessary intervention for sanitation and waste management.
Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) will also enable live telecast of morning and evening Aarti (Prayers) for devotees across the globe. Shri Amarnathji Yatra’s App has been made available on the Google play store to get real time information about the Yatra, weather and for availing several services online.
During the 44th meeting of SASB chaired by the Lt Governor, the members and officials had reviewed various aspects of Shri Amarnathji Yatra-2023, including registration, provision of helicopter services, service providers, camps, langars and insurance cover for Yatris.
SRINAGAR: A tragic incident occurred during Baisakhi celebrations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, as a footbridge collapsed due to overloading, resulting in the death of a nine-year-old girl and injuries to 61 people, including several children.
The collapse happened at Beni Sangam in Bain village of Chenani block.
Cops and locals were quick to respond and rescued the injured, which were then transported to various hospitals in Chenani, Udhampur, and Jammu. Police sources earlier confirmed that there were no serious injuries as the height of the bridge was low.
SRINAGAR: Amid forecast for very light rain and thunderstorms in the next 24 hours and fairly widespread precipitation thereafter till April 21, night temperature recorded a rise on Saturday, officials said.
A meteorological department official here said that Srinagar recorded a low of 9.1°C against 9.0°C on the previous night and it was 1.5°C above normal for the summer capital.
Qazigund, he said, recorded a low of 6.2°C against 6.0°C on the previous night and it was 0.3°C below normal for the gateway town of Kashmir.
Pahalgam, he said, recorded a low of 4.6°C against 3.6°C on the previous night and it was 1.8°C above normal for the famous tourist resort in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
Kokernag recorded a low of 10.6°C against 9.4°C on the previous night and it was 4.5°C above normal for the place, the officials said.
Gulmarg recorded a low of 7.0°C against 5.4°C on the previous night and it was 5.5°C above normal for the world famous skiing resort in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, he said.
In Kupwara town, he said, the mercury settled at 6.2°C against 5.6°C on the previous night and it was 0.1°C below normal for the north Kashmir area.
Jammu recorded a low of 21.2°C against 20.3°C on the previous night. It was 2.0°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said.
Banihal, he said, recorded a low of 9.3°C (above normal by 1.1°C), Batote 13.2°C (above normal by 2.7°C), Katra 19.4°C (2.9°C above normal) and Bhadarwah 8.9°C (1.9°C below normal). Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil recorded a low of minus 0.2°C and 3.3°C respectively, he said.
Regarding the forecast, he said, isolated very light rain and thunderstorms were expected in the next 24 hours.
He said from April 16-17, generally cloudy weather with intermittent light rain, thunderstorm and lightning “with occasional moderate intensity rains for short period” scattered to fairly widespread places of Kashmir and a few places of Jammu division.
From April 18-19, he said, the weather is likely to be generally cloudy with intermittent light to moderate rain (light snow over higher reaches)/thunderstorm/lightning at fairly widespread places of Kashmir division and few places of Jammu division.
From April 20-21st, he said, generally cloudy weather with intermittent light rain, thunderstorms and lightning was expected at a few places. “From April 22-26, the weather is likely to be mainly dry weather.” (GNS)
