News Kashmir Magazine

Education is dream of every civilized human. As a matter of great pain, global number of unschooled children aged 6-11 is still as high as 58 million, with little overall improvement since 2007. Out of which, India, with 1.4 Million children out of school, has the fourth highest number of unschooled children in the world, revealed the latest UNESCO data.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization had stated few years back that though India houses 1.4 million children out of school in 2011, the country is among 17 other nations that have managed to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the past decade.

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics, which produced the policy paper, said that 15 million girls and 10 million boys, constituting around 43 percent of those out of school, are unlikely to ever get access to primary education if the current situation remains the same. Countries like India, Indonesia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan is a home to millions of children out of school.

According to the UNESCO paper, abolishing school fees, introducing more relevant curricula, devoting increased attention to ethnic and linguistic minorities and providing financial support to families in need could have a positive role in promoting and extending the right to education to every human being. However, despite these high numbers, India suffered the largest cuts in aid to basic education from 2010-2012 of any country in the world, according to the specialized agency of UN.
We as a globe need to awake and provide quality education to every human.

Today’s world is Global Village courtesy media.Media is termed as the fourth estate of a democratic setup. Today impact of media has become debatable issue. We often hear that the media has an appalling influence on society.   This is true in some cases, but we have to also add this to the statement; society also influences the media by what it chooses to promote or watch.   Media is a very important part of society today.   Even with its adverse effects, we could not survive without it.

To start with, it is only fair to ask why society thrives off the media.   Society, at least the past few generations have always had an influence from media in some form or another.   Media in most circumstances is a way for the members of society to keep themselves informed on what is happening around them, which is even more vital with our world becoming globally connected.   Media is also a major source of entertainment.   Some forms of media are made for the sole purpose of entertaining the masses.   However, the media is forced to produce entertainment that the society requests.

On the otherhand, Media has a very significant impact on the society by acting as a bridge between administration and people. It plays a crucial role in highlighting the plight of oppressed masses, but is also said to have imparted some negative effects on the society which mainly include-Desensitization of society, general sense of panic and disorder, disconnection from God and morals, loss of imagination, and an excuse for laziness.   Studies have found that by the age of sixteen years, most children have watched more television than they have spent time in school. The media has also been alleged of promoting vulgarity at some instances. The media on a holistic base has imparted both positives as well as negatives into our social set up.

2016 has dawned and It’s the time to retrospect the year that was and set goals for future.

2016 (MMXVI) will be a leap year starting on Friday (dominical letter CB) of the Gregorian calendar, the 2016th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 16th year of the 3rd millennium, the 16th year of the 21st century, and the 7th year of the 2010s decade.

2016 has been designated as the International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.

All sane humans are hoping that wars, civil wars that have pained this planet earth and we are seeing lot of bloodshed will come to end in year 2016 and better sense would prevail among all parties of conflict will use better brains in 2016  to solve their disputes via dialogue.

In Kashmir too masses who have been hit very hard by the lingering political conflict and violence due to it are highly hopeful that Kashmir in 2016 will see an end to mad cycle of violence and disputes would be solved amicably.

Kashmir’s health and education sector has been constant worry for masses.The public health sector of the Jammu & Kashmir state especially that of the Kashmir Valley is in utter crisis. The hopeless scenario pertaining to health sector calls for the implementation of drastic measures.  . We confront to face problems on the all important education sector of ours. The poor and dismal performance of government schools despite being staffed with sufficient manpower and quality aptly describe the status of our education system.

One hopes in year 2016 the health and education sector would improve. Above all we are hopeful that world will be a better place to live in 2016.

Jammu and Kashmir is moving into 2016 with lots of hopes and expectations. The long running violent conflict has been paining the masses especially people of Kashmir as pain, death and destruction has defined the life in Kashmir. One added thing that has accelerated and added to continued chaos in all three regions Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh is the lack of quality governance. The hopes of people about good governance have been dashed time and again  , barring few short intervals of  time the state has witnessed not that much of what can be termed as good governance.

The voices are hoping that in the upcoming New Year the Jammu and Kashmir Government would focus on mantra of good governance.

Good governance and reaching via it to grassroots of the populace is the need of the hour and to an extent providing it can douse the angry fires in the state and ease out the overall paradigms of frustration. Let the government brainstorm and provide good governance to the masses of state.

Good Governance should involve taking series of steps on ground zero. The steps that should be taken should include giving the Thrust to employment and income generation,  Expanding provision of basic services , Reviving the traditional industries of Kashmir, Improving the face of public health and education sector, Relief & Rehabilitation for the dislocated and bereaved people.

Let the 2016 be the year of good governance for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Despite Kashmir roads once known for having very less congestion are now a story of jams, jams and more jams. The traffic on frequent roads of Kashmir gets now locked for hours and as a result commuters, critical patients face lot of problems. This traffic jams in Kashmir cause many delays to masses to reach to their respective destinations. We are also very well aware that our traffic department is facing dearth of human resource and are not able to properly look after this jam problem as a result this has become a menace.
As we are very well aware that traffic jam has become one of the major problems in our state and residents now spend hours stuck in traffic in the srinagar like city . Traffic congestion in many places of the state is also becoming severe with every passing day . One possible solution to this grave problem is to impose heavy taxes on car drivers and use this money to make public transport better
The sane voices are calling upon the government to frame a strategy so as to counter the frequent occurrence of traffic jams does not put them to more troubles .The realities call that time is ripe to address this grave traffic jam problem before it gets out of hand and public begins to lose its patience.

The all important India- Pakistan relations which have been witnessing downslide for long time seem to be witnessing some optimism since past few days.

The recent visit of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj to Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan issue also saw India –Pakistan breaking the ice and atleast beginning to talk.

Swaraj announced  certain key things and stated that efforts by both nations to improve ties are on . The discussions will encompass a wide range of issues from counter-terrorism to economic cooperation, but the cricketing ties between the two nations is yet to get the green signal.

“India and Pakistan are ready for talks. How this dialogue can be taken forward – the schedule and modalities will be decided in due course,” Sushma Swaraj said  after meeting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Affairs Adviser Mr Sartaj Aziz.

“The discussions will involve “peace and security, CBMs, Jammu & Kashmir, Siachen… Economic and Commercial Cooperation, Counter-Terrorism.. Humanitarian Issues, People to People exchanges and religious tourism,” said a joint statement.

 

“The Indian side was assured of the steps being taken to expedite the early conclusion of the Mumbai trial,” the joint statement read.

“The NSAs will continue to address all issues connected to terrorism,” the joint statement also said.

One hopes that this time around a comprehensive and  broadbased dialogue on key issues between India and Pakistan would be kick started and peace process gets a new lease of life. Peace and talks are only means for civillised nations.

Pakistan in a major development has hanged four convicts involved in dastardly Peshawar School Massacre. On 16 December 2014, seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban(TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The militants, all of whom were foreign nationals, included one Chechen, three Arabs and two Afghans. Their accomplices were many Pakistani Nationals.They entered the school and opened fire on school staff and children, killing 141 people, including 132 schoolchildren, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age. A rescue operation was launched by the Pakistan Army’sSpecial Services Group (SSG) special forces, who killed all seven terrorists and rescued 960 people. On 02 December, 2015 Pakistan hanged four militants involved in the Peshawar massacre.

This was the most horrible terrorist attack ever to occur in Pakistan, surpassing the2007 Karachi bombing.

 

The attackers were handed the death sentence for their respective roles in the massacre.Maulvi Salam was convicted of harbouring suicide bombers who attacked the Peshawar school, killing 144 people, a majority of them children. The ISPR claimed that he had confessed to his crime and that he was also involved in the killing of two colonels and a senior official of the National Development Complex.

 

Pertinently, Hazrat Ali was convicted of raising funds for the APS attack and involvement in the killing of 23 Levies Force personnel after their kidnapping.Sabeel was found guilty of being involved in an attack on the Pakistan Air Force’s Peshawar base in 2012 and transporting 10 suicide bombers and of abetment in the APS attack.

Meanwhile, Mujeebur Rehman was convicted of transporting 10 suicide bombers for the attack on the PAF base, being involved in assaults on personnel of law enforcement agencies and abetment in the APS attack.

Certainly,Pakistan has sent a strong message to extremists post Peshawar School Massacre.

Hartal (pronounced [həɽt̪aːl]) is a term in many South Asian languages for strike action, first used during the Indian Independence Movement. It is mass protest often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law as a form of civil disobedience. In addition to being a general strike, it involves the voluntary closing of schools and places of business. It is a mode of appealing to the sympathies of a government to change an unpopular or unacceptable decision. A Hartal is often used for political reasons, for example by an opposition political party protesting against a government policy or action.

Over the past 27 years of violent conflict of Kashmir this word Hartal has echoed almost billions of times in the hearts and minds of Kashmir to register their protest and anger against killings , unaddressed political aspirations and atrocities with about two thousand strikes observed in past 25 years in Kashmir.

But since few time the Hartal as a strategy employed by profreedom polity is failing to garner impressive response. The representatives of Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of different separatist parties in Kashmir recently decided to brainstorm at Mirwaiz Manzil in Srinagar last week to think of “alternate means” of protest.  Feedback from online platforms like twitter is being asked from youth to suggest alternative to hartals.

Will the anniversary hartals and failed chalos lead us to freedom?” a student asked Mirwaiz, the head priest of Kashmir who leads Friday congregational prayers at the historic Jamia Masjid in Srinagar, to which he replied, “At times, hartal becomes the only option, but I agree we have to look for alternative means of protest.”

 

People have been asking and questioning both on ground and online media to profreedom leaders  to  find an alternative to these strikes .Will the alternative come remains to be seen.

 

Currently world over due to Civil Wars and foreign interventions the people of many countries especially countries of Middle East such as Syria, Iraq , Libya and Yemen are forced to leave and become refugees.
A refugee, according to the Geneva Convention on Refugees is a person who is outside their country of citizenship because they have well-founded grounds for fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable to obtain sanctuary from their home country or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country; or in the case of not having a nationality and being outside their country of former habitual residence as a result of such event, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to their country of former habitual residence. Such a person may be called an “asylum seeker” until considered with the status of “refugee” by the Contracting State where they formally make a claim for sanctuary or right of asylum.
As a matter of fact many refugees are dying while undertaking dangerous sea journeys towards Europe. The world is witnessing the largest refugee crisis since the horrors of World War II.

Today there are close to 60 million war refugees, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)—“an all-time high as violence and persecution” around the world are on the rise.

It is high time world wakes to the refugee pain and root causes of all conflicts are addressed .

Bihar election have thrown an open verdict with ruling party at Center BJP and its partners receiving defeat at the hands of resurgent grand alliance comprising of JDU, RJD and Congress. Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar will be sworn in as chief minister for the third time in a row on 20 November after the Mahagathbandhan won a majority of seats in the assembly. But the electoral verdict of Bihar has given rise to rebellion in BJP with elder voices sounding the tunes of revolt.

 

Four veteran leaders, including Margdarshak mandal members L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, issued a stinging statement — a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for London — that the party was being “forced to kow-tow to a handful”, its “consensual character has been destroyed,” and it has been “emasculated” in the last year.

While ruling out Shah’s removal as party chief, Gadkari demanded stringent action against those making “irresponsible” statements against Modi and Shah. “I have told the party chief to initiate disciplinary action against those party activists who make irresponsible statements in public and cause damage to the image of the party,” the minister said.

Nevertheless the political ramifications of the Bihar electoral verdict seem to be far reaching on the overall political scene of India .