News Kashmir Magazine

Muharram Significance

Muharram has dawned.

Muḥarram (Arabic: ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar.It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden.It is held to be the second holiest month after Ramadan.

We are well aware that tenth day of Muharram is known as Ashura. Better known as part of the Mourning of Muharram, Shia Muslims mourn the tragedy of Karbala in which Imam Hussain ( As) along with companions were martyred.

Shia Muslims hold many events to offer condolences to Imam Husain ( As). and to honor the martyrs by prayer, reading supplications, and holding charity events. 

Karbala teaches us: Never support injustice and oppression no matter how powerful the oppressor might be.

The objective of all believers should be to please Almighty Allah. Imam Hussain ( AS)  said in one of his speeches that the only objective of the Prophet’s Holy Household (peace be upon them) is to please Allah. Whenever he saw family members martyred, he would utter: “It’s bearable only because Allah is its witness.

It is heartening to note that 

Muharram is the month in which justice rose against injustice and truth stood up against falsehood and proved that in the course of history, the truth has always triumphed over falsehood.

Muharram as a month preaches us love, kindness and tolerable. The battle of Karbala that took place in thr month of Muharram changed the course of human history and gave eternal message of justice and preserving human values. The need of the hour is we Muslims and humanity in general learn lessons from Karbala tragedy and follow the path of Justice and kindness.

Uniform Civil Code debate 

Many a voices across the countries  have often opined that 

Uniform Civil Code a need to strengthen the democracy in India. It is also been viewed as iron pillar of secularism. 

We need to bear in mind that Uniform Civil Code or UCC is implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion, gender and sexual orientation. Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures.Implementation of a uniform civil code across the nation is one of the contentious promises pursued by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. 

We have had historically different communities themselves moving towards Uniform Civil Code and sanity from time to time.

Those who favour Uniform Civil Code in India states its implementation is the need of the hour. For the purpose of equality and equal justice we need Uniform Civil Code. Without uniform civil code some people also try to misuse their personal laws. As we can see the child philosophy some are still governed by their personal laws which is like a playing game with their future. In personal laws women did not get their rights after divorce or at the time of death of husband but with the implementation of Uniform Civil Code they will get their rights, children can have their future bright and even it will also help our country to grow and to develop.

But there are some who oppose Uniform Civil Code.

The main argument against a UCC is that it violates the constitutional freedom to practice the religion of choice which allows religious communities to follow their respective personal laws. For example, Article 25 gives every religious group the right to manage its own affairs.

The need of the hour is to take every angle into consideration before following final opinion on implementation of Uniform Civil Code.

Rising Temperatures 

The rise in temperature throughout the world is a matter of serious concern. This will be double blow for both our environment and Agriculture. It is hurting the global food security. 

This year has been specially worse indicating high rise in temperature as a result of global climate change.

This year, Average  global temperatures at the start of June were the warmest ever recorded for the period, trouncing previous records by a “substantial margin”, the European Union’s climate monitoring unit said.

“The world has just experienced its warmest early June on record,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said in a statement few days back.

As a matter of fact, Researchers  at the EU’s Copernicus unit reported that the start of June saw global surface air temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels for the first time.

That is the threshold governments said they would try to stay within at a 2015 summit in Paris.

Data and statistics are worrying. According to the data, the daily global average temperature was at or above the 1.5 Celsius threshold between June 7-11, reaching a maximum of 1.69 Celsius above it on June 9.

It is a matter of grim concern that, Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.14° Fahrenheit (0.08° Celsius) per decade since 1880, or about 2° F in total. The rate of warming since 1981 is more than twice as fast: 0.32° F (0.18° C) per decade. The majority of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15 to 0.20°C per decade.

The rise temperatures which are reality of global climate change hint towards ugly days ahead for world population at large.

G20 in Srinagar 

The wait is over. Historic G20 meet on Tourism has Kickstarted in Srinagar.  It is the biggest event of Kashmir history since the independence from British in 1947. The mood is over the moon. Tourism stakeholders are expecting that this meet would be great game changer for people of Kashmir, Tourism advisories issued would be now things of past.  Both foreign and domestic tourists will flood Kashmir.

The revival of  Tourism since past two years signals perfect stage for the G20 Tourism summit in Kashmir. 

India has taken up the chairmanship of the G20, an organisation of wealthy global economies. The organising committee has taken on the duty of allocating time and opportunities among selected areas throughout the country, with the primary goal of highlighting its potential. This project aims to highlight India’s inherent diversity, embracing both geographical and cultural features, as per a report published in International Centre for Peace Studies.

The pulse on ground zero is that burning problems of youth like unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir would get swift solutions as conduct of G20 meet would lead long lasting impressions on the place.

Perfect changes are happening . The Kashmir valley has seen a significant increase in investment in recent months.

Notably, the Emaar enterprise, a business organisation based in the United Arab Emirates, has initiated building a commercial tower in the city centre, thereby generating a job market for the local young. 

As a matter of fact, 

The third G20 Tourism Working Group meeting  being held at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Center (SKICC) from May 22 to 24. The first Working Group meeting was held in February at Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. The second meeting was held from April 1 to 3 in Siliguri, West Bengal.

Srinagar has been decked like a bride for the G20 meeting. The Interior and exterior of the venue are being reworked to suit the theme of the meeting. 

People are with sigh of relief stating that G20 meet changes face of Kashmir towards betterment forever.

Heatwaves in India edit

Heatwaves in India are going to cause havoc and we are witnessing this during this summer season in many parts of the country. 

Nearly 90% of India is in a “danger zone” from heatwave impact and almost all of Delhi is at the risk of severe heatwave impacts, which is not reflected in its recent state action plan for climate change, says a study published on April 19 in the peer-reviewed PLOS Climate.

The impacts of global warming are thus visible for everyone to see.

On April 16, 13 people attending a public function died of heat stroke in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. While February and March saw record-setting temperatures, deaths have been reported even when the temperatures were not sky-rocketing and people were exposed to extreme humidity.

A heatwave is defined as a period of unusually hot weather with above-normal temperatures that typically last three or more days.

In India, heatwaves are generally experienced during the March-June period and on average, two or three heatwave event occur every season.

Heatwaves are predominantly observed over two areas — central and northwest India and coastal Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Climate change and global warming, current research suggests, have increased the probability of heatwaves in the past three decades.

The study, by Ramit Debnath at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and colleagues, also suggested that heatwaves, made more likely by climate change, may impede India’s progress toward achieving its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

India has committed to achieving 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) such as eliminating poverty, promoting good health and well-being, and decent work and economic growth.

One hopes we as a nation are able to arrest the drastic impacts of these ugly heatwaves in India .

Big boost to Rural Development 

Rural Development is the heart of progress of country.

a big boost to rural employment, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 19 Captive Employers and provide them the target to train and provide gainful employment to 31,067 rural poor youths under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) with minimum salary of 10000/per month for the minimum period of 6 months.

Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Giriraj Singh will be the Chief Guest at the MoU signing ceremony in New Delhi tomorrow. On the occasion, he will also distribute appointment letters to few candidates who had got similar training under the DDU-GKY and placed with captive employers.

Based on the direction of Shri Giriraj Singh, MoRD launched the Captive employment Guidelines under DDUGKY to ensure that the candidates are trained as per the industry requirement and employed. The Captive Employment model allows the employer to select the rural youths, skill & deploy them in one of its own establishment/sister-concern/subsidiaries.

The RTD (Recruit, Train & Deploy) model has been developed to address the needs of the Industry on one hand and ensuring sustainable placement for rural youth on the another hand. The model will be a win-win situation for Industry, Government & Rural Poor Youth. Industry will be able to provide more hands-on training at the job site itself as per its requirement while Government will ensure longer placements (Minimum six months) for rural poor youth candidates.

The Captive Employment Guidelines will increase the direct involvement of the industry due to the benefits provided to the industries for encouraging them to participate in the DDU-GKY program thereby ensuring the large quantity employment for rural youths. Few of the Benefits provided to the Captive Employers are: Top Most Priority in target allocation, Waiver of Performance Bank Guarantee, Waiver of Quality Appraisal Process and Fees, Due Diligence of Training Centre and few other mandates of DDU-GKY to ease the operations for industries, MoU with MoRD for the period of 3 Years, Industry to also get Trained Manpower on Work which may reduce wear and tear, better performance, training cost from Government. 

India a nation having most of its population in rural areas this is cherishing Development.

Decline in moral values in Kashmir 

Morality is the heartbeat of a lively society. The presence of strong moral values is deemed to prevent that society from series of crimes and shocking episodes. The morale fabric of Kashmir has been dwindling at an fast pace. As a result, drug menace and prostitution like vices are showing an abnormal spurt. 

In another Shocking news, Srinagar Police busted a sex Racket in Nowgam area of central Kashmir’s Srinagar district just few days back .

Police said the racket was busted during the investigation in Chanapora sex racket case. 

“ In continuation of the investigation of the recently unearthed prostitution racket in Bagh- e-Mehtab, the Srinagar police busted another prostitution racket in the Nowgam area, in which three persons running the racket have been arrested on spot including one woman,” a police statement said.

The Police identified the main kingpin as Shabir Mir and his wife Shazia Mir of Charlipora Nowgam, and Adil Gulzar of Soura. 

 One sex worker, a local girl and two clients Nazir Ahmad Malla and Irshad Ahmad Dar- both residents of Narbal, Investigation is on and more such raids are expected to be made in the coming days, Police said in a statement.

The police asked the general public once again to verify the identity of their tenants with the local police station and install CCTVS in their properties.

It requested people should report any immoral & illegal activity notice to the nearest police station or at the women helpline. 

The need of the hour is that both society and Government join hands to arrest the trend of decline in moral values in Kashmir.

Major feat for grasroot governance in JK

Grassroots Government is of vital importance for any place.  Jammu and Kashmir region is seeing grassroots governance in full flow after many years.

In one of the largest reformative measures started few months back, J&K Administration has nearly completed appointing about 10000 educated and young persons belonging to different villages of the UT on the significant grassroots level posts of Lumbedars and Village Guards (Chowkidars).

As a matter of fact, the information was revealed in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta and attended by DG, CID; Commissioner Secretary GAD; Commissioner Secretary IT & Information; Divisional Commissioners; Secretary PD&MD; Secretary, Revenue and all Deputy Commissioners of the UT either physically or virtually.

Dr Mehta applauded both the Divisional and District Administration for achieving this feat in a record time. He impressed upon the authorities to ensure that a training schedule is framed for these youngsters in order to sensitize them about their vital role as the grassroots level, frontline workers who have to work for the welfare and well-being of their villages.

He enjoined upon them that all these youngsters deserves to be given due respect and recognition as they would act as a bridge between the common masses and higher authorities. He advised them to create a WhatsApp group of these basic workers so that there is continuous communication between them and the District and Divisional Administration.

One hopes grassroots governance in Jammu and Kashmir would continue to thrive.

Improving education in Kashmir 

Education is the cornerstone of development. Jammu and Kashmir academic scenarios needed a much overhaul to make it reformative.

The pathbreaking interventions and concrete efforts by the government are transforming the educational scenario of Jammu and Kashmir.

The School Education Department has taken up several initiatives like reducing dropout ratio, increasing enrolment rate and others.

The whole nation is witnessing significant transformation in the education system with implementation of new National Education Policy. The policy has put special emphasis on engagement and involvement in both classroom as well as field study.

Notably, Mentorship Programme: Student Teacher Engagement for Educational Reinforcement (STEER) will revolutionize the school education system by identifying learning gaps and understanding the constraints being faced by the children, their capabilities besides providing the teachers an opportunity to bring changes in their teaching methods.

It is great development that 

Under this mentorship program, more than 21,000 schools have been covered and five lakh students have been mapped. Moreover, 40,000 teachers have been trained to mentor the students in 1:10 ratio.

Further, efforts are being made to improve the quality of school education and employment-oriented higher education through

the National Education Policy. Necessary changes have been made in the education system to cater to the human resource requirement of the fourth industrial revolution and digital economy of the twenty-first century.

Under the policy, Higher Education Council will ensure that colleges and universities become hub of research and innovation and contribute in developing a highly skilled national human capital.

The need of the hour is to make the education system of Jammu and Kashmir more sync with the needs of present times.

International Women’s Day 2023

The International Women’s Day marked every year on 8 March is an important celebration.

International Women’s Day, also known as IWD for short, grew out of the labour movement to become a recognised annual event by the United Nations (UN).

The seeds of it were planted in 1908, when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay and the right to vote. A year later, the Socialist Party of America declared the first National Woman’s Day.

The idea to make the day international came from a woman called Clara Zetkin, communist activist and advocate for women’s rights. She suggested the idea in 1910 at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. There were 100 women there, from 17 countries, and they agreed on her suggestion unanimously.

It was first celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. The centenary was celebrated in 2011, so this year we’re technically celebrating the 111th International Women’s Day.

The theme of this year’s women’s day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. It is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-67), i.e. “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

Keeping the theme of this year in mind, we need to bear in mind that 37% of women do not use the internet. 259 million fewer women have access to the Internet than men, even though they account for nearly half the world’s population.

If women are unable to access the Internet and do not feel safe online, they are unable to develop the necessary digital skills to engage in digital spaces, which diminishes their opportunities to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields By 2050, 75% of jobs will be related to STEM areas. Yet today, women hold just 22% of positions in artificial intelligence, to name just one.