News Kashmir Magazine

Corporal Punishment Menace 
Corporal punishment of the students is a menace .Section 17 of the RTE Act, 2009, in India  imposes an absolute bar on corporal punishment. It prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment to child and prescribes disciplinary action to be taken against the guilty person in accordance with the service rules applicable to such person.Recently in  a viral video of a teacher at  Private Coaching center located at Parraypora Srinagar a teacher is seen repeatedly  slapping a student 20 times which has  evoked much criticism after it went viral across the  social media platforms. This video generated shock waves across the Kashmir valley.
In the viral video the student was seen getting slapped repeatedly by his Chemistry teacher at Hope Classes- a private coaching centre in Srinagar.

The Administration of Jammu and Kashmir took immediate notice of the matter as DC Srinagar took immediate cognizance of the matter and directed action against the said teacher .

The DC office directed imposition of relevant right to education laws against the erring teacher for his horrendous act of corporal punishment and directed both coaching institute and teacher to be present before court .It is worth mentioning here that the  Managing Director of Hope Classes Parraypora while admitting that the teacher has done an offence by serving corporal punishment to his student and said that there is no logical justification which can defend the incident. He also assured that action on part of the institution will be initiated against the accused teacher.One hopes that in coming times we end the corporal punishment completely and weed out this menace from our education sector .

Editorial 12 April, 2021 Issue .

Important milestone for Kashmir rail project 

Building of rail link between Kashmir valley and Jammu is not just a project but a dream come true that will make connectivity easier from Kashmir and give relief from often highway blockades on Jammu Srinagar National Highway.Recently in a big leap towards realization of the same  Constructed at a cost of Rs 1,486 crore, an arch bridge between the Bakkal and Kauri in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir is dubbed as  important milestone in seamless railway connectivity to the Kashmir valley.
It is a big symbol and In other words, a train from Kanyakumari can reach all the way to Kashmir uninterrupted. The bridge, which can withstand wind speeds of over 266 kmph is higher than the tip of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.a historic day for the Northern Railways and a milestone in the completion of the USBRL project, connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country. The project will be completed within two and a half years,” Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal said.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal watched the lowering of the closure segment of the arch by cable crane through a video link from Delhi. Senior officers, including Mr Gangal and Konkan Railway Chairman and Managing Director Sanjay Gupta, attended the function.On the construction of the arch, the ministry said that this was one of the most difficult part of the bridge.
“This achievement is a major leap towards the completion of the 111-km-long winding stretch from Katra to Banihal. It is arguably the biggest civil-engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history,” it said.
“This bridge is 1,315-metre long and is the highest railway bridge in the world being 359 metres above the river bed level. It will be 35 meters higher than the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris (France),” the ministry said.One hopes Jammu to Kashmir rail link that would connect Kashmir to country would be reality soon.

Resolving issues of non -J&K Registration number vehicles 
In a major decision sometime back , Regional Transport Officer Kashmir has asked the owners of vehicles bought outside Jammu and Kashmir to get such vehicles registered with their concerned ARTOs to avoid seizure. 
A notification issued by RTO Kashmir in this regard said “Vehicles purchased outside J&K with non-J&K registration numbers and not registered with local ARTO offices are being seized.”
According to a notification issued by RTO Kashmir the ARTOs of Valley districts have been asked to seize vehicles purchased outside Jammu and Kashmir but run in Kashmir without registration by concerned regional transport authorities in Jammu and kashmir and those possessing vehicles purchased outside Jammu have been advised to follow the due procedures for registration immediately in Jammu and Kashmir. The move evoked strong reaction as scores of vehicles across Kashmir have been seized by the authorities.
The Kashmir Trade Alliance (KTA)  protested in Srinagar against the latest police crackdown on non-J&K registered vehicles and demanded exemption from what they termed as “double taxation”.On the other hand of the spectrum , Inspector General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar associated the move with militant attacks and drug transportation in the valley wherein he said such vehicles were used.

While as , Taking strong exception to the re-registration of non-Jammu and Kashmir purchased vehicles Apni Party also  said that arbitrary induction of such laws was adding more monetary burdens on the people currently bearing the brunt of an economic recession.
One hopes this issue of grave nature would be solved soon in an amicable manner .

 People should not be put to heavy burden as already economy of many is collapsed due to pandemic.

Editorial 29 March ,2021 Issue .

Optimistic Jammu and Kashmir Budget 
The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha recently held a press conference to highlight the significance of Budget-2021-22 for Jammu and Kashmir, besides the set targets & road-map being laid down by the J&K Government for the development of the UT and welfare of its people.
The budget has been full of positives .
It is worth mentioning that while addressing the media persons, the Lt Governor termed the Rs 1,08,621 cr Budget approved by the Central Government as historic.
“This is a budget to rebuild the economy, create jobs and secure the future of the people of Jammu & Kashmir”, said the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor observed that the quantum jump in the allocation of Budget in all sectors itself speaks about the strong resolve of the Hon’ble Prime Minister towards the development of J&K.

J&K has been getting a larger per capita budget than other states even in the past. It will be ensured that the work is being done on ground and the money is utilized for the welfare of the people without discrimination, besides tapping the the potential of the sectors which are less explored, said the Lt Governor.

The enhanced budget will go a long way in making J&K self-sufficient, thus contributing towards Prime Minister’s goal of AtmnaNirbhar Bharat, added the Lt Governor.

Giving a comparative analysis of the Budget for the year 2021-22 vis-a-vis the previous Budget, the Lt Governor made a sector-wise comparison.

One hopes this promising and optimistic budget takes Jammu and Kashmir to new levels of progress and prosperity .

Welcome resolve of LG Manoj Sinha on Smart city Jammu ,  Srinagar

To see in our lifetimes Jammu and Srinagar becoming world class smart cities is dream of every citizen of Jammu and Kashmir.
It is worth mentioning here that Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha recently called for executing the ambitious Smart City projects in Jammu and Kashmir expeditiously.

In a welcome Development it has been stated  that Lt Governor was chairing a high level meeting of Administrative Secretaries, experts on Smart City Projects and other stakeholders here at Civil Secretariat.

Stressing on timely completion of the Smart City Projects, the Lt Governor passed specific directions to the concerned officers for completion of the projects within the set timelines without any delay.

“The vision behind the ambitious projects is to transform Jammu & Srinagar into modern, sustainable and economically vibrant cities with dedicated focus on improving infrastructure & services, increasing mobility and enhancing the administrative efficiency”, observed the Lt Governor.The Lt Governor called for exploring every possibility to achieve the desired results and asked the concerned officers of Smart City projects in J&K to apply the learning gained from the experience of the officers of Smart City Ahmedabad Development Ltd during the implementation phase for various smart city initiatives.

The Lt Governor stressed upon the necessity of proper inter-departmental coordination and also directed the officers to get a better exposure and understanding of different aspects of Smart City projects.
In the imagination of any city dweller in India, the picture of a smart city contains a wish list of infrastructure and services that describes his or her level of aspiration. To provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development-institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. This can be a long term goal and cities can work towards developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’. 
One hopes we soon in coming years see Jammu and Srinagar coming up as excellent smart cities in the country that are epitome of urban development.

1 February 2021 Issue

Stay alert on Cyber world 
Cybercrime is defined as a crime where a computer is the object of the crime or is used as a tool to commit an offense. A cybercriminal may use a device to access a user’s personal information, confidential business information, government information, or disable a device.The need of the hour in Kashmir is to stay awake about all forms of cyber crime .Cyber Police Kashmir on Wednesday spread awareness via twitter regarding some miscreants blackmailing the people on social media by extorting the money after threatening the victims to make their pictures and videos viral online.

The Cyber Police Kashmir tweeted following some incidents of sextortion in Kashmir that social media users should be aware about the accepting of random friend requests or chatting with unknown whatsapp users. 

The police tweeted the poster which read, “Accepting random friend requests, video calls on facebook or whatsapp from strangers can land you in trouble. Blackmailers have devised a modus operandi to befriend people online and later get their photos/videos through video call and morph these photos/videos on pornographic photos or videos then blackmail the victim and demand huge amounts of money.”The realities urge on common man to use cyber world with utmost caution so that one does not fall prey to cyber crime .Recently in a welcome Development, The Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested 23 people after multiple raids were conducted at different call centres in Srinagar in connection with cyber frauds and hacking.
According to police, arrests were made after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered under sections 66, 66-B and 66-C of the IT Act, and sections 419 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The FIR on the reports of cyber frauds and hacking was registered at Cyber Police Station, Kashmir Zone, Srinagar. Later, police carried out multiple raids in Srinagar and arrested 23 people.One hopes our cyber world becomes safe space soon.

Shocking Death of Bakerwal Children due to harsh cold 

In an tragic event that took place in Kulgam some days back two Bakerwal Children died in their tents due to harsh cold weather .Officials said that a bakerwal family of Reasi had set up shelter (Tent) under open sky in the Brenal Lammar area. During the Saturday night one of their minor children, identified as Sahil Zubair (10 years old), passed away due to severe cold inside the tent.
Officials added that after a day passed, during the intervening night of Sunday-Monday, another child of Zubair Ahmad Mandar namely Shazia who was just 6 years old, developed complications due to the frosty weather.
The family immediately shifted her to a nearby healthcare facility but had passed away on the way, officials added.
 As per reports, Tehsildar Devsar had provided them blankets and food after they refused to take shelter at a nearby school of the area. 
It is pertinent to remind ourselves that the nomadic community in Kashmir keeps moving from summer pastures of Kashmir to winter pastures of the Jammu plains every year.

 The community has asked the administration to provide basic facilities to the nomads on the move to stop such incidents.The death of these two children caused great pain and uproar in the Kashmir , with calls of having a collective introspection growing louder .
It is heart wrenching that still many marganilised sections in the society suffer due to cold and other weather vagaries . The need of the hour is that both society and Authorities step in to help those in need . Gujjar and Bakerwal community should be providing housing facilities .

Ugly Traffic Jams in Srinagar 
Traffic jams since many years have been a curse for the Kashmir Valley especially the Summer Capital Srinagar . The historic city of Srinagar is currently after the recent heavy snowfall battling one of the worst traffic jams in its history .
 Commuters state that for completing mere five to ten kilometers journey within the Srinagar city it is taking them many hours altogether making life miserable. Media reports state that various areas of Sriningar City centre  witnessed massive traffic jams causing immense problems to commuters.
The problem was further worsened due to presence of snow mounds on roadsides.

 Grime nature of the traffic jam was such that it has taken many commuters  nearly an hour to reach LalChowk from Sonwar, Dalgate.Heavy snowfall and snow not cleared from many areas caused hardships to the masses.  causing difficulties for the commuters as it is hampering the smooth passage to them.Massive gridlocks across the City were witnessed for many days after snowfall  and it took hours for people to reach their destinations.All walks of life have been badly hit by these long and painstaking traffic jams especially the students community and office goes . One hopes in the new look Jammu and Kashmir the human resource of Traffic Department would be increased by much as the meagre human resource makes very less traffic cops visible on the streets of Sriningar and other parts of the Jammu and Kashmir.Recently, even the Travel Agents Association of Kashmir (TAAK) has expressed serious concern over the inconveniences the travellers faced on way to Srinagar Airport due to huge traffic jams and snow accumulation on the road.In a statement, TAAK President Farooq A Kuthoo said the logjams on way to Srinagar Airport is bringing bad name to Kashmir and may prove detrimental to tourism sector.
The hopes on ground zero are that very soon these long and tiring traffic jams would be things of past and people will get relief from same .

Controlling inflation in harsh winters 

The beginning of year 2021 in the Valley of Kashmir has been witness to heavy snowfall and infact after decades we have seen such snowfall in Kashmir .We have seen in the winter months that often snowfall results in road closures which result in often road closures especially the closure of all important Jammu Srinagar National Highway .The closure of all important Jammu Srinagar National Highway is causing discomfort to the commuters aspiring to travel to outside places of Kashmir and more than it causes shortage of essential items leading to price rise and inflation .The black marketing done by few vested interests during the long closures of the national highway causes immense hardships to the consumers . The need of the hour is to undertake more market Checks so as to keep a eagle eye on black marketing .Vegetables and non vegetarian food items is witness to much drastic price rise during these highway closures . Eggs as a commodity also see much abnormal price rise during the road blockade .The need of the hour is to meet the deadline of completion of all important Jammu Srinagar Rail link and see to it by the year end of 2022 we see fully functional train in Kashmir . The opening of train would ease the life of people of Kashmir as supplies can be arranged easily and plus rail link will remain cut off for shorter period as opposed to road link .The realities urge upon the authorities to ensure that till long lasting solution is ensured on the aspect of keeping national highway open they take all steps to weed out the menace of inflation breaking back of masses . The availability of necessary items by keeping adequate stock during winters can ensure that hyper  inflation during National Highway closure does not break back of the people of Kashmir.

Year 2021 High Hopes 

The year 2020 was a horrible year for whole world on account of ragging pandemic Coronavirus . Throughout globe millions died and crores got infected due to Coronavirus . In Kashmir too hundreds died due to pandemic and thousands got infected . Besides inflicting huge emotional wounds the pandemic Coronavirus destroyed almost all economies .In Kashmir too many jobs and ventures were lost to pandemic . Tourism industry has been worst hit .
The conflict bloodshed also marred Kashmir in 2020 with hundreds of Humanbeings across political divide getting killed . The farmers agitation in the country against newly passed farm bills aimed by Government to reform agriculture sector but it didn’t go well with many sections of farmers especially in Punjab and Haryana thus farmers agitation in different parts of country .
One hopes the new year 2021 will offer new lease of hope – first and foremost people allover the world are hoping that Coronavirus would come to end . There are high hopes on many vaccines being successful in fight against the pandemic Coronavirus throughout the world .
Kashmir valley people too hope that year 2021 would end the dark night of uncertainty and killings and peace and prosperity would be ushered in the pain hit valley .People of Kashmir are also hoping that they will get better facilities in form of Electricity and water in the year 2021.All the voices of sanity are praying for peaceful and prosperous 2021 for whole humanity.