News Kashmir Magazine

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 .

Rising Domestic Violence

 News Kashmir Analysis 
Domestic violence directed mostly against women is among the ugly crimes against humanity.  We are since few years seeing a ugly spurt in the Cases of domestic violence in Kashmir.  The domestic violence in some cases has also lead to deaths of young women which is shame on us . These ugly episodes also shows how much deep the rot is . We also need to understand the complete contours of domestic violence to resolve it .Domestic violence (also called domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in either heterosexual or same-sex relationships or between former spouses or partners. In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse. It can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and other violent physical abuse, such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that may result in disfigurement or death, and includes the use of technology to harass, control, monitor, stalk or hack.[1][2] Domestic murder includes stoning, bride burning, honor killing, and dowry death, which sometimes involves non-cohabitating family members.Recently we saw in North Kashmir an alleged tragic death of young women in domestic violence. Police recently  constituted a Special Investigation Team headed by Additional Superintendent Baramulla to probe into the alleged domestic violence death of a woman from Kreeri area of the north Kashmir district.

In view of the sensitivity of the case, FIR 42/2022 under section 307, 323, 498A IPC of police station Kreeri, a Special Investigation Team is constituted for speedy/quality investigation of the case,” reads an order by SSP Baramulla Rayees Mohammad BhatThe realities show look at the three-year data reveals that crimes against women has increased more in Kashmir as compared to Jammu and Ladakh. A total of 1,756 cases have been registered in Kashmir, followed by Jammu that reported 1,570 cases of domestic violence. In Ladakh, 44 cases of domestic violence and six other category cases have been registered in the last three years.The domestic violence cases are certainly a bruise on soul of Kashmir

Eid Fervour 
News Kashmir Exclusive 
Ramdan has almost cone to am end and we are marking the Eid Festivity. Eid al-Fitr  also called the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”, is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. This religious Eid is the first and only day in the month of Shawwal during which Muslims are not permitted to fast. The date for the start of any lunar Hijri month varies based on when the new moon is sighted by local religious authorities, so the day of celebration varies by locality.

The need of the hour is we spend very less on this Eid and keep much for the poor hit hard by the pandemic Coronavirus especially during past few years .

 Eid Al Fitr 2022 is expected to take place on May 2, according to Egypt’s National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG).
The president of the institute, Gad El-Qady said earlier this week that the crescent moon will not be visible at sunset on Saturday, April 30 in Egypt and other Arab countries.The Eid in South Asia countries is expected to be on May 3, 2022.This year Eid al-Fitr is expected to be celebrated on May 3 in India. As per the central government’s holiday calendar, Meethi Eid falls on May 3 and it is a gazetted holiday, however the celebration will depend on the sighting of the new moon.The date of Eid changes every year as it follows Hijri calendar, which is a lunar calendar and is based on the phases of the moon. The start of any Islamic month begins on the new crescent moon when sighted and confirmed by religious authorities. Eid is celebrated across the world on different days as per new moon sighting.After many years of Ravaging pandemic of Coronavirus the fervor of Eid is back in Kashmir especially with declining cases  .
Eid-ul-Fitr is expected to  being celebrated across  Kashmir with fervor once again as men, women and children dressed in their best will throng mosques, shrines and Eidgahs across the Valley for special prayers to mark culmination of the fasting month of Ramzan.People are praying for lasting peace and prosperity in Kashmir and this year the markets saw good volume of sales on the eve of eid and return of old hustle and bustle .The smile and happiness has been once again witnessed on faces of children and elders on eve of Eid ul Fitr in Kashmir.
Nazir Ahmad,  a commoner stated : ” This year after many years especially after the dark period of pandemic Coronavirus the fervor of Eid is back on the streets of Kashmir . Overall, people did good buisness and earned good after long time. We hope the fervor of Eid al Fitr Changes our lives to better.”

AAP Entry in JK Politics 

News Kashmir Analysis 

Aam Aadmi Party after its historic sucess in the recent  Punjab Assembly elections is embarking on mission Jammu and Kashmir. 

As the delimitation is about to be complete the likelihood is that Jammu and Kashmir would see historic assembly polls in October – November.  

The ground zero pulse is that In the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir the National Conference of Abdullah family ruled the roost for several decades , but Mufti family lead Peoples Democratic Party had also come of age in the previous two decades. 

With the abrogation of article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir state into two Union territories Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh the realities have changed.  NC and PDP seem to have lost the selling points as they revealed their politics revolved around 370 .

The weak health of Congress  Party at national level has impacted the local unit of Congress too. 

Bhartiya Janta Party  is wooing voters through different promises but several Muslim majority seats in Jammu  and Kashmir make its task herculean. The fatigue with BJP in its bastion Jammu could also be its undoing .

The ground thus currently has much in offer for AAP.

Pertinently,  this time due to absence of article 370 the national players would be having firmer chance .

Dynasty tag associated with regional powerhouses PDP and NC seems to be going against them now .

Many are stating that among national  players AAP could be more serious challenger especially  inJammu region as opposed to Kashmir region.

Historically, Punjab has had a huge cultural and social influence on Jammu. Soon after the AAP’s recent Punjab victory, Jammu which is a bastion of BJP, is abuzz with new political slogans. The AAP is using both nationalism and development to challenge BJP .

With BJP playing the major step of article 370  abrogation the local parties are struggling to present the agenda.  

The Aam Aadmi Party is trying to cash in anger in pockets  towards BJP among Jammu and Kashmir voters and lack of selling points for local parties to carve its base .

 The recent joining of many leaders from Jammu and Kashmir including some municipal councillors from Srinagar  in Aam Aadmi Party fold at a function  in Delhi has boldened the AAP ambitions in JK .

The party leaders of AAP are motivated for the challenge. 

NAVNEET MISHRA, STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER Aam Aadmi Party   states :   ” We have strong electoral fortunes in  Jammu and Kashmir . 

We need to remind ourselves that  politicians for their selfish politics have made the place complex . They have lend great losses to the masses of Jammu and Kashmir  via their vested interests . The Aam Aadmi Party will make sure the rise of  common masses  of JK and like Punjab and Delhi make them masters of governance.  We envisage to end VIP culture.  We have already formed committee  in Jammu and Kashmir regions. We will contest all the 90 seats and achieve a thumping victory in the Assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir. “

Navneet states that Aam Aadmi Party will revolutionize the all important  health and education sectors of Jammu and Kashmir and make them free and accessible to one and all.

Mohammad Amin Dar, Secretary Kashmir Aam Aadmi Party stated :” The way traditional political parties for their selfish and vested interests have looted time and again the poor masses of Jammu and Kashmir, the ground is quite fertile for the growth of Aam Aadmi Party in Jammu and Kashmir.  The AAP as Party has proven its effectiveness and efficient governance in Punjab and Delhi.  The way bloodshed and corruption has been unleashed by the all political parties in Jammu and Kashmir we are bound to sweep the Assembly polls whenever they are held here .”

Improving Education Infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir News Kashmir Exclusive Education  is cornerstone of the human civilization. Infrastructure is key to the development of education . Strong Education Infrastructure means vibrant education system. Buildings, classrooms, laboratories, and equipment- education infrastructure – are crucial elements of learning environments in schools and universities. There is strong evidence that high-quality infrastructure facilitates better instruction, improves student outcomes, and reduces dropout rates, among other benefits.The Jammu and Kashmir had been lagging in the education Infrastructure but now the situation is changing towards betterment. 
With an aim to reform the educational ecosystem and infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, the largest single addition of education capacity in 70 years was done with the addition of new 25000 seats in 50 new colleges in one year only.The present administration under Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha is creating one of the best infrastructures for higher education in the country.“Two colleges of architecture and One engineering college was also established. IIT and IIM was established in record time,” official documents said.Speaking at a book launch of “Analysis of Accreditation Reports of Union Territories-Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh,” by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) during a function organised by NAAC in collaboration with the Central University of Kashmir (CUK), Lieutenant Governor (LG), Manoj Sinha recently said that the Universities and Colleges have immense power and a small shift in curriculum can have a decisive impact on the socio-economic environment.
The Lieutenant Governor observed that the world is heading towards an era that will be dominated by the knowledge economy, our biggest asset would be the human capital, a combination of talent, skill, and creativity.With the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, more than 2500 kindergartens were established and another 2000 are being established under Capex Budget.
On the other hand of spectrum, 80,000 students are already enrolled in pre-pre-primary classes in 9000 Government primary schools. According to statistics of education department, 9643 Government schools from 6th to 8th classes were mapped with adjoining high and higher secondary schools for providing basic skills on vocational courses taught in 803 vocational labs. Every teacher will mentor 10 students of primary classes under the Student-Teacher Mentorship initiative launched in J&K with a focus on Foundation and Numerical Literacy.

The pulse on the ground in Jammu and Kashmir is hopeful that the education Infrastructure would continue to grow so that we make right strides in our education journey.

Drug Prices Hit Common Masses

 Rameez Makhdoomi 

Medicine or drug is the basic need of every human to tackle the various diseases and ailments. They give us often immediate relief from suffering caused by the disease . Medicines are chemicals or compounds used to cure, halt, or prevent disease; ease symptoms; or help in the diagnosis of illnesses. Advances in medicines have enabled doctors to cure many diseases and save lives.As a matter of fact , The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India had earlier announced a 10.7 per cent hike in the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the calendar year 2021 over the corresponding period in 2020.With this hike, the cost of about 800 scheduled medicines on the National List of Essential Medicines will increase by 10.7 per cent since the beginning of this  financial year.The common man on ground zero is worst hit by this steep rise in the price of medicine .Nazir Ahmad, a commoner stated ” The recent steep hike in about 800 essential  medicine is bound to break the back of common  man. In a place like Kashmir  majority of humans are dependent on different medicines on daily basis .Many depend on costly medicines to treat their ailments.  Further increase in these prices means terrible things for many households . We are hopeful that soon the prices of these medicines would be reduced .”per NPPA’s order, the price of medicines that are used to treat fever, heart diseases, infections, skin diseases, high blood pressure and anaemia will be increased from April 1. These include medicines like Paracetamol, Phenobarbitone, Phenytoin Sodium, Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride and Metronidazole.The demand of the majority of the population is that the prices of medicines should be within their reach and especially in the times when the pandemic has broken back of many people both economically as well as mentally.Recently in Lok Sabha Congress member Dean Kuriakose raised the issue of prices of lifesaving drugs.“Prices of essential medicines including painkillers, antibiotics, anti-infectives are set to go up from April with the government allowing an increase of over 10 per cent for the scheduled drugs,” Kuriakose said. He said that India’s drug pricing authority on Friday allowed a price hike of 10.7 per cent for scheduled drugs, which are under price control.“This is the highest price hike allowed. Over 800 drugs under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) will see a price rise from April,” he said.One hopes we will enter an era in our country wherein the prices of essential medicines or drugs are within the reach of pocket of common man.

Global warming knocks Jammu and  Kashmir

News Kashmir Exclusive 
In the year 2022 Kashmir is witnessing an abnormal higher temperature in the Spring season causing worry amongst one and all . It seems that the phenomenon of Global Warming has knocked our doors in a big way in the Kashmir valley  .As a matter of fact,  climate system observed since the pre-industrial period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, primarily fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere.Many have not seen such higher temperatures in the month of March in Kashmir.  The switching on of Fans and other cooling systems used to happen in month of Kashmir but this year in the month of March Fans are on in Kashmir. It is worth mentioning here that India Meteorological Department (IMD) somedays back said for month of  April, similar above normal maximum temperatures are likely to be recorded in most parts of northwest and central India and some parts of northeast India.It is matter of worry that Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing the hottest March after seven decades. The mercury broke all records in March with Jammu and Kashmir recording an all-time high of 37.3 degrees Celsius on Sunday (March 27).The other parts of the country too are witnessing abnormal high temperatures. The expert pulse is that the Northern Hemisphere including India, winds in anti-cyclonic circulation rotate in clockwise direction. In layman’s terms, the building up of a high-pressure area during the month of March resulted in dry weather across the north and central India from the last 20 days. As winds were blowing from the Thar desert of Rajasthan, it was supposed to be moisture-free and hot. Humidity levels went way below 20 percent in peak afternoon hours along with exceptional rise in maximum temperature across India.Since last few years the experts have made it clear that Erratic snowfall and snowfall pattern and unusual warm winters are some of the characteristics of the climate change in Jammu and Kashmir. 
Climate change hits the life hard and adds to woes of common masses.  Already it has been made clear that different  types of ecosystems and communities, especially the poor rural people, living in the mountains across the Jammu and Kashmir  are among the most affected by the climate change.We need to respect the environment  in order to survive on this planet.