SRINAGAR: A Village Defence Committee (VDC) member from Bai Nambal village of Rajouri committed suicide by shooting himself with a 303 rifle issued to him as a part of defence committee.
The deceased has been identified as Suresh Kumar Sharma, son of Sukhdev Sharma resident of Bai Nambal village, falling under Kandi police station in Rajouri district.
Quoting an official, KNO reported that in the late evening hours on Monday, the incident took place at Bai Nambal village of Kandi police station in Rajouri in which a man namely Suresh Kumar son of Sukhdev Sharma resident of Bai Nambal committed suicide with weapon issued to him as a part of VDC.
Police have started an investigation and legal proceedings into the matter.
Within a fortnight after the Chief Secretary told the heads of departments to oversee what the government employees are doing on social media, the Jammu Kashmir Police arrested a government employee, a peon, for allegedly posting ‘hateful’ comments on social media. Identified as Amrik Singh, a resident of Beoli Doda, he is posted as a class-IV employee in CEO’s office. The data he uploaded, police believe, could trigger law and order problems in the district.
Nearly 6000 Kashmiri Pandit employees called off their 310-day-long protests after the government stopped their pay. They were seeking transfer out of Kashmir on security grounds.
JAMMU
Yet again, the official recruiter, the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) is back in news. This time for managing the examinations of the aspiring employees through Aptech Ltd, a hiring firm that has been blacklisted by other states. As the details of the firm’s shady detailed appeared in the media, there were protests in Kashmir and Jammu. In Jammu, police used force and made arrests of the protesting young men and women. The company was blacklisted in 2019 but re-hired in May 2022. The crisis erupted in wake of serious credibility issues involving the SSB and the third parties it hires. In July 2022, the administration cancelled the selected list of 1200 police sub-inspectors, 1300 junior engineers and 1000 finance account assistants (FAA) following allegations of paper leaks and malpractices. The CBI that is investigating the case has charge-sheeted 24 persons including a BSF commandant and many of them were arrested as well. Though the SSB is justifying the re-hiring, the protesters were insisting that once blacklisted how the company can be trusted now especially when job rackets are investigated by the major agency. The political class especially the JKNC and PDP have strongly reacted to use massive force against the job seekers. “On what basis, and at whose behest, has the company, which is blacklisted by other states, been awarded the contract to conduct the recruitment here,” Mehbooba Mufti asked. Aptech is blacklisted in UP, Rajasthan and Assam. “Laws were changed to make sure it gets the contract.”
65 benches of the special Lok Adalat settled 224 of the 669 matrimonial cases and awarded Rs 51,10,500 as compensation and settlement amount.
SRINAGAR
Jab Jab phool Khilay, a 1965 blockbuster featuring Shashi Kapoor and Nanda reinforced the belief that if it is love, it is Kashmir
Love is not a lollipop. Sometimes, it backfires. In the last 10 days, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed three tragedies suggesting that Cupid always does not protect lovers from each other. On March 1, a boy and a girl jumped into river Jhelum in Baramulla. It triggered panic and somehow the girl was rescued but the body was recovered dead many hours later.
In Jammu, a young lady, 27, who was about to be a trained dentist, was found stabbed to death at the house of her male friend in Pamposh Colony (Janipur). On March 7, evening, police said the man’s relatives informed them that he had uploaded a message on his Facebook announcing that he will commit suicide. As they rushed to his flat, it was locked from the outside. They broke the door and were shocked to see a young woman stabbed to death. The accused was also found in critical condition in his washroom with the same kind of cuts. The slain lady – who was pursuing MDS in Delhi and had come on vacation – has been cremated and the man is in hospital and now being probed for murder.
On March 9, in Srinagar, a non-native survived with serious injuries after his wife allegedly stabbed him with a knife in Jawahar Nagar. Identified as Rakesh Kumar (Amritsar), he is recovering in SMHS Hospital in Srinagar.
More than 100 thousand tourist arrivals were recorded in February 2023, a record in itself.
BARAMULLA
An aerial view of Baramulla. Pic: Baramulla News FB page
The new Naya Kashmir has too many colleges and a lot of many students. The problem is there are no teachers. Now a degree college in Baramulla has thrown up a model. In absence of teachers, the Government Women’s College, Baramulla has asked non-subject faculty to have “engaging classes of the departments without staff”. Now, the faculty of Education, Physical Education, and Sports Departments has been assigned the duty to engage the classes of Political Science. Chemistry Department has been asked to take care of Public Administration Department and Botany Department has been asked to engage classes in Economics and the Zoology department would engage the students of Social Work. Mathematics Department will teach Philosophy. Now I know, one scholar wrote on Facebook, why Baramulla creates polymaths. Seemingly it is the beginning. Now every Kashmiri student will be a polymath, courtesy chatbot.
20.8 per cent of adults in Jammu and Kashmir are using tobacco.
WASHINGTON
Foreign ministers of India and China, S Jaishankar and Wang Yi
The American intelligence community has told US lawmakers that it apprehends increased tension between India and Pakistan and India and China with the possibility of a conflict. The three nuclear-armed neighbours are in a tense relationship for their own reason. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, they have said “is more likely than in the past to respond with military force to Pakistani provocations”. While India-Pakistan relations are at a historic low, Sino-India relations are not cordial because of the Ladakh stand-off. The intelligence assessment coincided with the renewed public speech by a number of politicians that within a few years India will retrieve its parts of Kashmir from Pakistan.
The administration has decided to scrutinise more than 700 thousand ration cards in Kashmir.
AMSHIPORA
The bodies of three slain youths who were killed in Amshipora fake encounter were exhumed in Gantmulla Baramulla on Saturday, September 3, 2020. Image: Social Media
Finally, the Court Martial vindicated the residents who, from day one, insisted that the killing of three Rajouri labourers in Shopian village on July 18, 2020, was a fake encounter. Last week, a general court-martial (GCM) recommended life imprisonment to Captain Bhoopendra Singh, a verdict subject to confirmation by the Army headquarters in Delhi. The encounter saw the killing of Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar who were dubbed ‘terrorists’. The CGM followed a Court of Inquiry and a Summary of Evidence found the officer has abused the powers vested under the AFSPA. The Court of Inquiry was completed in the last week of December 2020. A JKP SIT had also established the captain’s culpability along with two civilians. Singh would operate in the area under an assumed identity, Major Bashir Khan. The slain trio were from the same village and two of them were close relatives. After the “encounter”, LG Manoj Sinha personally visited the Rajouri families, expressed his sympathies and assured them all of the help. So far, however, they have not been given jobs which the families desperately require.
LG Manoj Sinha revealed that in the last three years, more than 30,000 vacant government posts were filled and 20,000 more vacancies are being filled.
SRINAGAR
Royal Springs Golf Course, an aerial picture
The Jammu and Kashmir government is planning to outsource the Royal Springs Golf Course taking the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) route. The world-class golf course is not the only property. Reports said “some properties of JKTDC and Directorate of Tourism Jammu and Kashmir” are being outsourced. The 300-acre 18-hole RSGC is operational since 2001 when Robert Trent Jones Jr worked for years on the erstwhile city forest to make it one of the wonders of Kashmir. Earlier, the officials identified 12 JKTDC assets including the Pahalgam Club, Jammu’s Ashoka Hotel, and various huts at Patnitop for outsourcing. Of the 12 properties, 11 have been divided into three bundles. Bundle I includes the Pahalgam club and convention centre and Pahalgam Hutments and Hotel Alpine with an estimated project cost of Rs 108.44 crore. Bundle II bracket envisages three properties – facilities at Sanasar Lake, tourist bungalow Kud and Hotel Maple Kud with an estimated project cost of Rs 48.89 crore. Bracket III includes six properties – Ramban Cafeteria, Tourist Bungalow at Ramban, Tourist Bungalow Seri-Ramban, Tourist Bungalow Banihal, Hotel Maple Banihal and Cafeteria Qazigund at an estimated project cost of Rs 6.86 crores. JKTDC has invited proposals from reputed national or international entities, and joint ventures for undertaking the Development, Operation and Maintenance of select tourism assets (bundle-wise) with 30 years concession period for I and II Bundles and 15 years for Bundle –III.
Kashmir’s Chest Diseases Hospital reported 47 positive H3N2 infections from a sample basket of 103 in 50 days.
HANDWARA
The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered an enquiry into the alleged misconduct of the president Municipal Committee, Handwara. Earlier, a similar investigation along with a formal police case was registered against a councillor of MC Pulwama. He had abused doctors on duty. In September 2022, the government removed Bilal Ahmad Bhat, President of the Municipal Committee, Awantipora from his office on the grounds of abuse of his official powers.
SMC officials have said Srinagar has Swachh Bharat Mission 730 toilets and 35 toilet blocks are being built.
GANDERBAL
On the Srinagar-Leh national highway, the government has completed the construction of a new Wayil bridge, a first-of-its-kind arch-truss-girder design bridge. It has been constructed using a unique combination of truss and arch bridge elements and girders and will replace the old single-lane bridge that caused frequent traffic jams and delays. The two-lane bridge, with a span of 110 meters and a width of 10.50 meters, was funded by the World Bank and will be ready at an investment of Rs 23.79 crore.
LG Manoj Sinha said around 350 modern health infrastructure projects are coming up in Jammu and Kashmir.
SRINAGAR
Regional Transport Officer Kashmir has suspended the registration of two-wheelers (JK01AG-5841) used in the commission of eve-teasing. It was a quick follow-up to the Srinagar police arresting two boys for allegedly stalking and intimidating a girl on March 4.
A woman employee whose infant dies will have a paid leave for 60 days.
DODA
VDC members led by BJP leader Sunil Sharma submitted a memorandum to Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 2, 2022. Pic: Social Media
Arvind Kumar, a 35-year-old man allegedly shot himself dead with his brother’s rifle, at his ancestral Sindra (Bhaderwah) village in Doda district today, a police officer said. The rifle belonged to his elder brother, a Village Defence Guard (VDG) member. This is the second murder after the government revived and rebranded the erstwhile VDCs into VDGs.
MeT calculations suggest Jammu and Kashmir received 176 mm overall precipitation in January and February against the normal of 225 mm, which means 17 of 20 districts received deficit rainfall.
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha addressed the Republic Day gathering in Jammu in 2023.
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha said that every drop of blood and tears that were shed in Jammu and Kashmir due to the killings of innocents at the behest of the “neighbouring” country will be avenged. Highlighting the interventions aimed at getting Jammu and Kashmir back on the rails of peace and progress, Sinha said there are sustained efforts of the security grid to eradicate militancy. “I want to tell those involved in the barbaric killings of innocents at the behest of the neighbouring country that we will avenge every drop of blood and tears”, Sinha said. “Today, I bow to the brave soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir police, army and central security forces, who displayed unmatched heroism and the spirit of sacrifice in defending the motherland.” In 2022, the security grid killed 180 militants as the year witnessed a 55 per cent fall in civilian killings and a 58 per cent reduction in the killing of security forces. He said the security grid has been strengthened.
Jammu and Kashmir Police have constituted a 20-member Terror Monitoring Group (TMG) that will be headed by an SSP rank officer and will have six DySPs, six inspectors, six head constables and a follower.
POONCH
Army imparting training to Village Defence Committee (VDC) members on weapon handling, cleaning, musketry, firing and weapon maintenance drills at Mendhar (Poonch). Pic: PRO defence Jammu
In the first post-reorganisation of VDC, a young housewife in Surankote was killed by her husband when the latter was playing with the rifle of a VDC member, a relative. Police arrested the man, seized the weapon and are investigating if it was an accident or a deliberate one. The deceased was identified as Rubina Kouser, 30. Her husband, now in detention for the killing, was identified as Nassar Ahmad son of Nazir Hussain of Upper Murrah in Surankote. The rifle belonged to a VDC member. Meanwhile, the High Court has declined to stay the government order of August 14, 2022, that accorded sanction to the creation of the Village Defence Guards Scheme (VDGS) 2022. The court of Justice Rahul Bharti was hearing a plea filed by 619 Village Defence Guards (VDGs) and Special Police Officers (SPOs) seeking direction to the Government not to change the status of VDC SPOs. The 2022 order superseded September 30, 1995, which created the extra-constitutional VDC network.
2022 witnessed 1.8 crore tourist arrivals in Jammu and Kashmir including pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine.
CHENNAI
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha attends Vitasta Festival at Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai on January 28, 2023. Image DIPR
Ministry of Culture is organising a festival Vitasta – the ever-flowing legacy of Kashmir in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Jammu and Kashmir. The first edition of the festival will be held from January 27 to 30, at Kalakshetra, and on January 29, at Dakshina Chitra. It will have a choreographed dance presentation of the Kashmiri folk dance forms, a folk symphony with Kashmiri folk musical instruments, a unique presentation of two folk theatre forms – Bhand Pather of Kashmir and Therukoothu of Tamil Nadu, a recital by Santoor player music composer and conductor, Abhay Rustum Sopori, Kashmiri Sufi Band by Aabha Hanjura, Kashmiri cuisine fair, crafts fair with the handicrafts, needlework and weaves of Kashmir, workshops on pashmina wool weaving and papier mâché, seminars related to the Vitasta river and Kashmir including the impact of Buddhism and Shaivism, art camp for artists, an art competition for schoolchildren, a play, photography exhibition, Sharada Stotram by the students of Kalakshetra, a production on national integration based on a literary work by Subramania Bharathi by the students of Kalakshetra, and villu pattu on Vitasta.
32000 students from across India study in Jammu and Kashmir, according to Home Minister Amit Shah.
LADAKH
LAB, KDA hold protest in Jammu on Sunday, January 16, 2022
China is reported to have blocked access to the Indian Army at 26 patrolling points along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC) in eastern Ladakh, resulting in the denial to use huge swatches of grazing land to the local herdsmen. A Leh Police reports suggest that there are a total of 65 PPs (patrolling points) starting from Karakoram Pass to Chumur which were routinely being patrolled by the army. These points were openings towards high-altitude meadows as well. The access has been denied by the Chinese Army under the land grabbing inch by inch, which is called salami slicing, the report authored by OPS officer PD Nitya has said. The officer submitted its report to the just concluded annual conference of DGPs and IGPs held in Delhi. “Out of 65 PPs, our presence is lost in 26 PPs (i.e. PP no. 5-17, 24-32, 37), due to restrictive or no patrolling by the security forces,” the paper added. Though the government has not formally reacted to the findings, informal sources have denied the status quo. The anonymous said the herders have been restricted by the army itself.
Meanwhile, in an unlinked development, reports suggest that the MHA will resume talks with the protesting political leadership of the region seeking assurance for full statehood, and protection of the region’s identity under the Sixth Schedule and jobs. Region’s leaders have boycotted a High Power Committee that MHA constituted and protested in Ladakh and then in Jammu. Now, the regional leaders have written a joint letter to Amit Shah suggesting that to begin with, dialogue should be initiated with two representatives each of LAB and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) with the provision of wider participation as it makes headway.
Jammu and Kashmir Bank netted Rs 311.59 crore profit in Q3, ending December 2022, taking the 9-month profit to Rs 721.05 crore in fiscal 2022.
SRINAGAR
Co-founders of a logistics company, FastBeetle, Abid Rashid (L) and Sheikh Samiullah (R). They got an institutional investment of 100 thousand dollars after their less than 2-year start-up was evaluated as worth a million-dollar company.
Srinagar-based e-commerce start-up, Fast Beetle succeeded in raising Rs 90 lakh by diluting its shareholding by 7.5 per cent to two shark investors, Piyush Bhansal and Aman Gupta. The development took place at the business reality show, Shark Tank India. Investors were impressed by the story of start-up promoters Sheikh Samiullah and Abid Rashid, who in 2019 started a logistics company that delivers parcels to buyers. This is the second time that the company succeeded in raising money from the highly competitive open market. In 2021, they had raised almost one crier from a group of venture capital investors. Now the two co-founders retain 76 per cent of their company’s equity.
Jammu and Kashmir’s government has launched an Rs 879.75-crore Food Processing Programme for the Development of Clusters for Specific Products to maximise farmer income and minimise post-harvest losses.
DELHI
Kashmir’s last Santoor maker Ghulam Mohammad Zaz was among three eminent persons from erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir who were awarded Padma Shri this year. Others are litterateur Mohan Singh (Jammu) and Ladakh’s religious personality Kushok Thisksey Nawang Chamba Stanzin. Zaz is the eighth-generation Santoor maker and lives in Srinagar’s Zaina Kadal. “The legacy will end with me,” he regrets. Santoor is a trapezoid-shaped instrument with 87 strings and 28 bridges. Traditional Kashmiri Santoor, however, has 100 strings. For use in Indian Classical Music, the number of strings is reduced. Zaz is survived by his wife and three daughters. Normally the instrument made with almond wood is considered better.
URI
JK LG Manoj Sinha with the family of Mudasir A Sheikh, an SPO, who was killed in an encounter in Kreeri on May 25. Sinha visited the family in Uri on May 28, 2022.
Mudasir Ahmad, 32, a Jammu and Kashmir Policeman who was slain in a counterinsurgency operation was awarded Shaurya Chakra posthumously. He was killed in an encounter in Najibhat Kreeri (Baramulla) on May 25, 2022. Three foreign militants were also killed in the encounter that was mounted by police, the army and CRPF. On October 5, 2022, Home Minister Amit Shah visited Sheikh’s family and paid respects at his grave barefoot. He has worked undercover earlier, reports in the media suggest. Mudasir is survived by his father Maqsood Sheikh, a retired sub-inspector, mother Shameema Begum, two sisters, and three brothers. Sheikh was hired as SPO after his father’s retirement and on basis of his extraordinary services with SOG, he was formally adjusted into police. He was a daredevil police official.
SRINAGAR
After formally and informally identifying the encroachment on the state land basket, the authorities have started demolitions in certain cases, In a high-voltage operation, the Budgam district administration demolished the outer wall of National Conference (NC) leader Ali Muhammad Sagar’s security detail near his Humhama house. The government had raised a plank suggesting the piece of land had been encroached upon by the politician. Officials said they demolished the outer wall, the main gate and the entry of the guardroom. Official records said the Saleema, wife of Sagar is the owner of land measuring 3 kanal 18 marlas. However, the family had allegedly encroached upon 2 kanals of state land on which a building had been raised.
DODA
Mubeen Fatima was a mother when she enrolled for MSc Botany and soon she fell apart from her husband. She is now a JKAS officer.
Marriage, after all, is a social contract with a lot of emotional, moral, ethical and economic equity. Sometimes it does not succeed. Instead of staying in a bad relationship, it is better to move out formally and rediscover life. That is what Mubeen Fatima did. Daughter of Abdul Sattar of Upper Thathar, Bantalab, the mother of a young daughter, put in her efforts and made it to Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS), with a rank of 154. She graduated in 2018 and was a mother in the same year. As she joined for her masters in Botanay, she was divorced by her husband – conveyed the same digitally. She was declared MSc Botany in 2020 and soon she started preparing for JKAS. On the first attempt, she made it.
ZEWAN
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha with Kashmiri Pandits after he laid foundation stone of Transit Accommodation for PM Package Employees at Zewan on Friday January 20, 2022
The Zewan locality on the borders of the Srinagar and Pulwama districts will have a series of towers that will house a Kashmiri Pandit township. LG Manoj Sinha laid the foundation stone last week for 936 flats. These are for the employees who will be posted in Kashmir. In comparison, it is a better-secured locality. LG said by December 2023, 1200 flats will be ready for the Pandit employees who were appointed under a special package of the Prime Minister.
JAMMU
Kanak Mandi Jammu.
Finally, the government has decided to collect Property Tax in Jammu and Kashmir and it will start with commercial establishments. Officials said collection of this tax is linked to the devolution of various grants to Jammu and Kashmir. Slabs for the imposition of the tax are reportedly being worked out. For the time being, it will not be collected from residential establishments.
SRINAGAR
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah on one of his initial visits to SKIMS after the institute started functioning. Sheikh was the Chief Minister.
A young SKIMS doctor survived an electric shock while performing on a cardiac patient in the operation theatre. Reports suggest that when he started the procedure, he got an electric shock, following which he collapsed on the ground and was admitted. He has suffered injuries on his hand and fingers. After the shocking incident, SKIMS management started an audit at key spots in the hospital.
