News Kashmir Magazine

Curbing Narcotic Smuggling 

News Kashmir Analysis 

Drug trafficking or narcotic smuggling is among the major issues faced by the humanity.  Kashmir valley too has got ruined by the vices of drug addiction especially the younger generation.  By definition the term Narcotic means powerful illegal drug that affects your mind in a harmful way. The word smuggling means to take things into or out of a country secretly in a way that is not allowed by the law; to take a person or a thing secretly into or out of a place. This drug trafficking or narcotic smuggling is destroying our youth by supply of drugs.

Now both in Jammu and Kashmir, and at National level the actions against this narcotic smuggling are becoming more active and coordinated.

The special wing of J&K Police, Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) has launched a major crackdown in Jammu and Kashmir in a coordinated manner to curb narcotics smuggling with the arrest of over 1232 drug peddlers and lodging of 867 FIRs in the first quarter of 2021-2022.

The ANTF and J&K Police’s drive against drug peddling foiled many attempts of the inter-state drug peddlers with timely inputs provided by the intelligence agencies.

61.02 kg of heroin was seized in the first three quarters of 2022 and 6.03 kg of heroin was seized in the first quarter of 2021,” the official data revealed indicating a steep rise in heroin smuggling cases during the first quarter of 2022.

On National level, 

About 175 persons allegedly involved in drug smuggling have been arrested in different parts of the country in an operation led by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in close coordination with the Interpol, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the police forces.

The multi-phase exercise code-named “Operation Garuda” has been launched to dismantle the drug smuggling networks with international linkages through coordinated enforcement actions across the world, through the Interpol.

On worrying side though,Drug trafficking through sea routes in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, estimated to account for around 70% of the total illegal drugs smuggled into India, poses a major challenge for law enforcement agencies, according to the latest annual report of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The use of maritime routes by international drug syndicates based in Pakistan and Afghanistan is only expected to increase, it said.

Anti- Narcotics Task Force ANTF a specialized unit of J&K police to check the rising menace of drugs, has arrested 1,232 drug peddlers and lodged 867 FIRs since its inception in 2020. During the period, the ANTF also foiled many attempts of the inter-state drug peddlers with timely inputs provided by the intelligence agencies.

The hope on ground zero is that across Jammu and Kashmir and in entire country the narcotic smuggling would be crushed.

Udta Kashmir

News Kashmir Public Bureau 

Taking cognizance of the drugs issue, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 42/112 on December 7, 1987. As per the resolution, it was decided that June 26 will be annually observed across the member countries as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

Recently while marking this day all expressed concern on the rising rate of drug abuse in Kashmir especially among the youth.

Drug addiction is a world wide problem, and unfortunately Kashmir is emerging among its Hotspots.

Nearly 275 million people used drugs worldwide in 2020, up by 22 percent from 2010, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It added that the number of cannabis users increased by nearly 18 percent between 2010 and 2020.

Last year, it was revealed  that Jammu and Kashmir has six lakh people affected by drug-related issues and 90 per cent of the drug addicts belong to the age group of 17-33 years, according to an official report.

The report was released during the first meeting of the state-level committee of the Narco Coordination Centre chaired by Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta. He stated that the Union Territory has approximately 4.6 per cent of its population into substance abuse and called for formulation of an action plan for achieving concrete results on the drug menace front.

The worrying facet is emerging of heroin.

there has been a 340 per cent increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for Intravenous (IV) Heroin abuse.

Even the political and social spectrum of Kashmir is worried about rising drug menace .

National Conference (NC) few days back  expressed concern over the collective failure of the government agencies in curbing the menace of drug abuse among Kashmiri youth.

In a statement party’s state spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said that Kashmir is moving towards an unimaginable catastrophe with little to no attention being paid by the government to come up with a holistic approach towards stopping this growing menace.

. On the other hand of the spectrum, The survey carried by the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre of AIIMS reveals the severity of the problem. The study has placed J&K on 5th spot at national level and claims that over 6 lakh people in J&K are abusing drugs.

Expert pulse is that from students to  elders all have a crucial role to play in the eradication towards drug abuse .

In this regard the students community too have a huge role to play against drug addiction.  

 the student community must shoulder the responsibility of raising community-level awareness against drug addiction.

The need of the hour is that all the stakeholders play crucial role in ending drug menace in Kashmir. 

Water Borne Diseases  Threat

News Kashmir Analysis

The recent rains which created a huge flood scare in Kashmir, and water was seen flowing in many areas, came at a time when the valley of Kashmir was grappling with rain deficit.  On that front it is good news  , however the ground reality show that how we have choked Wetlands and flood channels in name of development and construction can any time wreck havoc if large period of rain hits Kashmir and a heavy flooding hits .

The another main  threat to which we need to remain  cautious now in backdrop of these rains is the waterborne diseases  .

After many days of rain, Directorate of Health Services Kashmir has issued an advisory over a possible outbreak of water borne diseases in the valley in view of incessant rains and flash floods .

In the said  advisory, the DHSK has emphasized on hand hygiene and drinking boiled water. The DHSK also advised to wash the food storage containers regularly and chlorinate the tap water for decontamination. For rehydration, the DHSK has advised to use ORS, which can be also made at home by adding 8 tsf of sugar and 1 tsf table salt to a pre boiled litre of water.

Also, The DHSK has asked the CMOs across the valley to activate the Rapid Response Teams in the respective districts and gear up the CHOs for any eventuality.

In a further welcoming move, DHSK also asked the CMOs to lift water samples for testing at Public Health Labs under IDSP programme to ensure minimal occurrence of the disease outbreak.

The expert pulse is that we need to be cautious about Water borne diseases as 

Waterborne diseases are conditions (meaning adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted in water. These diseases can be spread while bathing, washing, drinking water, or by eating food exposed to contaminated water.

It is worth mentioning here Majority of water-borne diseases worldwide mainly affect children due to poor hygiene and weak immunity. Most of these diseases are life-threatening. The knowledge of the different types of water-borne diseases has come to the forefront with the advent of globalization over the past few decades. Several pathogenic microorganisms which were previously unknown, have become the focus of major research in this field.

About 844 million people lack even a basic drinking-water service. The hope on ground is that whole humanity fights the waterborne diseases rapidly. 

Applying bag weight policy 

News Kashmir Analysis 

The heavy weight of bags of school going children is a matter of serious concern . This is a both health and mental issue for the children. 

Throughout the world, It is common these days to see schoolchildren carrying around large, heavy school backpacks. Many are so large, in fact, that one can’t help but wonder whether or not such a heavy backpack or school bag might not only be causing back pain, but could also result in other types of damage, including scoliosis or other spinal deformities. In Kashmir too heavy bags have been a serious issue for the children. 

Understanding the serious nature of the issue, 

The Directorate of School Education Kashmir (DSEK) had issued few weeks back  circular instructions to the schools putting a cap on the weight of school bags.

Referring to the revised school bag policy of NCERT, the DSEK in a circular has said that there should be no school bags for kindergarten students while the weight of the school bags for class 1st and 2nd primary should be 1.6 to 2.2 kg while 1.7 to 2.5 kgs for Classes 3rd to 5th primary.

As per the revised guidelines, the weight of a school bag for class 6th and 7th students should be 2 to 3 kg and 2.5 to 4kg for Class 8th students.

“The weight of the school bag for class 9th and 10th should be 2.5kg to 4.5kgs and for class 11th and 12th it should be 3.5kgs to 5kgs,” the circular reads.

The teachers have been put on instructions to take the responsibility of checking the weight of school bags of the students. “Any information about heavy bags should be communicated to the parents,” it reads.

However on the ground zero one still witnesses large number of students carrying heavy weighty bags which is a matter of serious concern  . The fact of matter is to get these much needed circulars and orders applied on the ground zero so that children get much needed relief. The demand from common people is that these orders on weight of bags need to be implemented on ground zero and erring schools in this regard need to be punished  .

Public circles in unison state that the burning issue of heavy weight of school Bags has been a long term  problem with students carrying this weight on their tender shoulders.

Experts also state Children carrying particularly heavy school bags frequently develop a forward head posture, with the body hinging forward at the hips to balance out and compensate for the heavy weight on their backs, thus causing unnatural posture alignment.

Wild labour, mild back

News Kashmir 

Child labour is a menace hurting entire humanity. 

The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the World Day Against Child Labour in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Each year on 12 June, the World Day brings together governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world to highlight the plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by world leaders in 2015, include a renewed global commitment to ending child labour. Specifically, target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls on the global community to: “Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.

The 2022 World Day Against Child Labour took  place shortly after the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour . Ensuring universal access to social protection is an integral part of the “Durban Call to Action” , adopted during the Conference, and essential to help construct a path towards a world free of child labour, as called for under SDG Target 8.7, and towards universal social protection, as reflected in SDG Target 1.3.

Child labour is a serious issue in entire country as well as in Jammu and Kashmir.  According to different reports on ‘child labour in J&K: social, economic and ethical dimension’ there are more than one lakh child labourers in the state, majority of whom work in the handicrafts sector, automobile workshops, brick kilns, agriculture and as domestic servants in homes.

It is know fact 

Child labour deprives children of their right to go to school and reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty. According to data from Census 2011, the number of child labourers in India is 10.1 million of which 5.6 million are boys and 4.5 million are girls.

Even in our region the child labour is seen from streets to homes , with innocence of children getting ruined due to the evil of Child Labour . We as a society need to raise all awareness to kill the root causes of child labour and ensures each child reaches school .

One hopes that all the required steps needed to eliminate child labour from world would be taken.

Bloodbath 

News Kashmir Exclusive 

The painful situation in Kashmir is back with innocent killings happening on regular instances now , which is causing anger and rage both in Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of country.  The return of bloodbath is a tragic news for one and all as past three decades violence,  terror and many other things have destroyed the peace and prosperity of Kashmir. 

Kulgam in South Kashmir and Chadoora in Central  Kashmir are seeing much tragic episodes .

On June 2, 2022 

 Bloodbath saw yet another ugly dimension when A bank manager from Rajasthan, posted at the Ellaquai Dehati Bank in the Valley, was shot dead by militants in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Thursday morning, while  in the evening a non-local labourer was shot dead by terror elements  in Magraypora area of Budgam district in the evening.

These are not the lone episodes as before it series of targeted attacks have happened. Before these episodes, few days back 36-year-old Kashmiri Pandit teacher named Rajni Bala was shot and killed  in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, sparking a wave of outrage by the Hindu community living in the valley. The KP community in J&K protested against the killing and demanded protection for them.

On May 12, Rahul Bhat, an employee of the revenue department in Budgam, sustained serious injuries after militants fired at him . He was rushed to a hospital in Srinagar where he died a little while later.

In other set of tragedy, The killing of Vijay Kumar, a bank employee, by terrorists on Thursday, the 12th of a civilian since March, triggered another round of exits of migrant Hindu and Kashmiri Pandit workers and their families from the Valley. The exodus has revived memories of the mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley between 1989 and 1995.

On the other hand, As targeted killing of civilians in the Kashmir Valley continued, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Secretary, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) Samant Goel and Special Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB) A.S Rajan on Thursday. The details of the meeting were not known.

The sane demand is that atmosphere of terror and fear in Kashmir has to end .

This bloodbath is certainly giving painful times reminder to one and all in Kashmir. The hopes are that this bloodshed will end soon  and Kashmir would witness new dawn of prosperity.

Food  Security  Importance 

News Kashmir Exclusive In the back drop of ragging pandemic Coronavirus since past three years and a recent devastating wars between Ukraine and Russia have brought to fore the importance of Food Security. The inflation of food items is proving the need to take the issue of food security seriously. Food security is the measure of the availability of food and individuals’ ability to access it. According to the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security, food security is defined as meaning that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.The availability of food irrespective of class, gender or region is another one. There is evidence of food security being a concern many thousands of years ago, with central authorities in ancient China and ancient Egypt being known to release food from storage in times of famine. At the 1974 World Food Conference, the term “food security” was defined with an emphasis on supply; food security is defined as the “availability at all times of adequate, nourishing, diverse, balanced and moderate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices”.On the other hand,  According to UN-India, there are nearly 195 million undernourished people in India, which is a quarter of the world’s hunger burden. Also, roughly 43% of children in India are chronically undernourished. India ranks 71 out of 113 major countries in terms of food security index 2020.In an important development, India has expressed concern over global food insecurity and underlined need for collective work to alleviate suffering of most affected. Addressing a high-level ministerial meeting on Global Food Security Call to action in New York, Minister of state for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said that Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict between Russia-Ukraine have impacted the developing countries, with spiraling energy and commodity prices and disruption in global logistical supply chains.Mr. Muraleedharan pointed out the Global Report on Food Crises and said according to the 2022 report, 139 million people had suffered across the world from conflict-induced acute food insecurity.The need of the hour is that we in Jammu and Kashmir preserve the agricultural land and don’t let its further havoc to tackle the food security fears in coming times .