News Kashmir Magazine

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.

Edit 28 December, 2020 Issue .

Media Role in Disaster Management

We live in times of Disasters when natural and man made disasters are wrecking havoc throughout the world.Media as a fourth pillar of democracy has a key role in disaster management .media assists in the management of disasters by educating the public about disasters; warning of hazards; gathering and transmitting information about affected areas; alerting government officials, relief organizations and the public to specific needs; and facilitating discussions about disaster preparedness.Recently in  a welcome development in this regard  Webinar on “Media for Disaster Risk Reduction” was jointly organised by National Institute of Disaster Management and Institution of Engineers (India) J&K State Centre, Srinagar, today, in collaboration with J&K Information and Public Relations Department, Kashmir Editors Guild, Kashmir Press Club and J&K State Emergency Operation Centre, Srinagar. The webinar was inaugurated by Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar, Director Information and Public Relations Department.

Speaking on the occasion Dr Sehrish said media is the most effective link between the Public and the Administration, and Information Department is the link between Government and Media. She said that coordination mechanism with media needs to be further strengthened, in order to ensure that media has timely access to disaster related data, otherwise it can lead to publishing of unverified and speculative reports. She implored the concerned officers that should share relevant information about each incident promptly, otherwise reporters have to rely on information which may not be accurate.
One hopes in our part of the world media role in disaster management would be critical in coming times .

Kashmir Train hopes 
A train link from Kashmir to Jammu has always been high hope for the masses of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite the project commenced few decades back only Baramulla to Banihal , Udhampur to Jammu has been completed .The Banihal Katra section is yet to be completed ,which once completed will directly connected Srinagar with Jammu. Now in a good news the Northern Railway will be completing the most difficult 111-kilometre long section of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link by December 2022 that would connect Kashmir to the rest of India through the railway network, a senior official said recently .
“The work is going on in full swing. The prestigious project will be completed by the end of 2022”, Northern Railway General Manager Ashutosh Gangal told reporters.According to the officials of Northern Railways, perhaps, the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project is the most difficult new rail line project undertaken by the national transporter. The project has been divided into three sub-sections for execution purposes. The most difficult stretch of this rail line project, Katra-Qazigund leg, and its alignment which is 129 km long, passes through the ranges of Patni and Pir Panjal.
One hopes train hopes of Jammu to Srinagar which would give great boost to economy of Jammu and Kashmir would help in economic boom and ease to commuters once completed .

Editorial 14 December, 2020 Issue

Insaaf Ki Dastak : A Ray of Hope
Justice is the paramount need of every society and to run society in peaceful and progressive manner delivery of Justice is a must. 
Former Chief Justice, High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Patron-in-Chief J&K State Legal Services Authority, Gita Mittal, who retired few days back but before that  launched an ambitious legal outreach programme “Insaf Ki Dastak”.

A statement stated  that the programme aims at providing access to justice at the door steps of people living in far-flung and inaccessible areas of the UTs of J&K and Ladakh who face severe hardships in reaching the courts for their legal issues.

The project “Insaaf ki Dastak” (Access to Justice for inaccessible areas) was envisioned by former Chief Justice, Gita Mittal and Justice Rajesh Bindal, Executive Chairman of J&K SLSA to ensure that no person is deprived of their constitutional rights enshrined in Article 39-A of the Constitution of India which provides that the State shall secure that the operation of legal system promotes justice, on the basis of equal opportunity and to ensure that  the opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of any disability.Pertinently, the rules governing the filing of suits, appeals and petition by the persons residing in remote areas were framed and by virtue of Notification no. 1617 dated: 07.03.2019, the High Court of J&K made necessary amendments to J&K General Rules (Civil) of 1978 svt. The High Court in Sch. (Schedule) A Chapter 8 of the J&K General Rules (Civil) of 1978 Svt. has notified certain areas of UTs of J&K and Ladakh as remote areas.One hopes wheels of Justice run smoothly in Jammu and Kashmir in favour of justice starved masses .

For achieving the target of the Project, the assistance of department of posts and certain government approved agencies providing public services (Common Services Centres) was also sought. The Para Legal Volunteers who form an important area of Legal Services Authorities would bridge the gap between the people living in inaccessible areas with Court and other Legal Services Authorities by facilitating filing of cases as per rules through the CSC’s /Post office located in their area.One hopes this programme changes dynamics of justice in Jammu and Kashmir towards betterment.

Positive figures on JK Unemployment levels 
The problem of unemployment has been plaguing the present and future of Jammu and Kashmir youth since long . High percentage of unemployment among educated youth has been a much severe problem for Jammu and Kashmir.During Covid Pandemic and  past Upheaval situation on this front had gone worse .
Now in a ray of hope ,The rate of unemployment has fallen to 8.6% in the month of November from 16.1% in October in Jammu and Kashmir, as per the data given by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). 

In July, Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) published the recruitment notification for 8575 Class 4 for District/ Divisional / Union Territory (UT) Cadre.
Pertinent to mention here according to  official reports, A total of 1,35,590 registrations took place for the total vacancies of 8575; which depicts the inside picture of the employment crisis in Jammu and Kashmir. As per The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, India’s unemployment rate is 6.7 per cent which means J&K has a higher unemployment rate than the national average. Among the states 
Haryana tops the list with 25.6 per cent of unemployment rate, followed by Rajasthan with 18.6 per cent. 

The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries in its preliminary report suggested that five lakh job losses were recorded in Kashmir region only post abrogation of Article 370 last August which was followed by lockdown to combat Covid-19 pandemic.One hopes we continue to witness positive developments on unemployment front .