Kishtwar, September 15: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on the second day of his visit to Kishtwar, participated in a plantation programme organized by NHPC Dulhasti Power Project.
The Lt Governor, along with Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary and Sh Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor planted Apple seedlings at Chenab Bhawan, NHPC Dulhasti Power Station.
“Our progress is inherently linked to environmental resources. We must preserve our traditional life-sustaining system and maintain ecological integrity. Protection, restoration and regeneration of natural resources are prerequisite for economic development”, said the Lt Governor.
Mukesh Singh, ADGP Jammu; Sh Ramesh Kumar, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Dr Devansh Yadav, Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar, besides Sh Deepak Sehgal, Executive Director, Region-Jammu and Sh M K Kashyap, Group General Manager (In-Charge), Dulhasti Power Station and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
LG Sinha participated in NHPC’s plantation Programme at Kishtwar
Concessions, incentives extended for Central Govt employees working in Kashmir valley
NEW DELHI, Sept 15:
The Centre has extended by three years the package of concession and incentives for its employees working in the Kashmir valley, according to a Personnel Ministry order.
The valley comprises Anantnag, Baramulla, Budgam, Kupwara, Pulwama, Srinagar, Kulgam, Shopian, Ganderbal and Bandipora districts.
The order issued on Monday said the concessions have been extended with effect from August 1, 2021.
The package of incentives is uniformly applicable to all ministries, departments and public sector undertakings under the Government of India and they should ensure strict adherence to the rates prescribed in the package, it said.
Employees posted in Kashmir valley have an option to move their families to a selected place of their choice in India at government expense and transport allowance for the families is allowed as admissible in permanent transfer inclusive of the composite transfer grant at the rate of 80 per cent of last month’s basic pay, the order said.
Those employees who do not wish to move their families to a selected place of residence are paid per diem allowance of Rs 113 per day for each day of attendance to compensate for any additional expense in transportation from to and from office etc., it said.
The package of concessions or incentives shall be admissible to temporary status casual labourers working in Kashmir valley, the order said.
The benefit of additional house rent allowance admissible under the Kashmir valley package shall be admissible to all Central government employees posted in Kashmir valley irrespective of whether they are natives of the valley, if they choose to move their families anywhere in India subject to the conditions governing the grant of these allowances, it said.
The facilities of messing allowance and per diem allowances shall also be allowed to natives of Kashmir valley in terms of the package, the order said. (Agencies)
NTA To Announce CUET UG Result 2022 Today By 10 PM: UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar
NEW DELHI, Sept 15: The National Testing Agency will announce the result for the Common Universities Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET UG) today, September 15. UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said that the CUET UG 2022 result will be announced by 10 PM.
Hybrid terrorist arrested in J&K’s Reasi
Jammu, Sep 15: Police on Thursday arrested one hybrid terrorist along with arms and ammunition in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Reasi Senior Superintendent of Police Amit Gupta said that acting on tip off one person, Zaffer Iqbal of Bal was arrested. He was in touch with terrorists handlers in Pakistan.
His brother Mohd Ishaq was LeT terrorist and was killed in an encounter with security forces in Rajouri and reportedly one of his relatives Abdul Rashid of Ladh is in Pakistan and is also working with terror groups.
Police team raided and arrested Zaffar Iqbal from Plaasu Nallah and put him under sustained interrogation.
The SSP said that during interrogation, he confessed about his links with terror organizations and about commission of offense.
Upon his disclosure, a joint operation was launched by team of Police, Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF in Angrala forest and arms, ammunitions and explosives were recovered from a hideout in the area.
The recovery included two pistol glocks (one damaged), four magazine pistol glock (two damaged), 22 rounds of 9mm live, one grenade besides Rs 1,81,000 in cash, which was to be used for terror related activities in future.
A case under various sections of Explosive Act and UAPA has also been further registered against him.
“The arrest and recovery is a big success. The hybrid terrorist was in touch with terror groups and with his arrest a major terror strike is averted,” the SSP added.
He said Pakistani handlers are constantly trying to revive of militancy in upper reaches of the district.
The top cop said peace loving citizens of Reasi have disowned militancy and such attempt will fail. (Agencies)
‘Civil servants must learn to work with anonymity and dedication’, Vice President to IAS officers
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, called upon IAS Officers to work with dedication for improvement in the delivery of services and grievance redressal to citizens while maintaining the principle of anonymity.
175 IAS officers of the 2020 batch posted as Assistant Secretaries in various ministries called on the Vice President, Jagdeep Dhankhar at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas, along with Mrs S. Radha Chauhan, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and other senior officials from DoPT.
Addressing the officers, Dhankhar said that as civil servants, “you owe your highest allegiance to the Constitution and must always strive to preserve and uphold the rights guaranteed under it. Attracting attention to oneself or taking political positions must be avoided at all costs”.
The Vice President advised the officers to remember that “today’s citizen aspires to have a voice in the processes of policy formulation and implementation”.
He suggested that a civil servant’s empathetic attitude towards the common citizen determines their satisfaction with Government services. He called upon the officers to become “role models in this ‘Attitude-changing Mission’ of the government.”
Interacting with the officers, the Vice President observed that the batch has diverse educational backgrounds such in engineering, medicine, management, law and arts, and suggested that they utilise their educational background to innovate and deliver high-quality outputs in governance.
The Vice President also noted with pleasure that the batch comprised a significant number of women IAS officers and noted that “it is an encouraging development that women are now leading in all fields, including administration and governance”.
He conveyed his best wishes to the batch of 2020 in their endeavours.
Two teenagers among seven injured in J&K’s Rajouri road accident
An official said the injured were rushed to civil hospital by the locals
Rajouri, Sep 15: Seven persons, including two teenagers, were injured in a road accident on Rajouri-Kotranka-Budhal road today morning, officials said.
They said that a vehicle heading towards Rajouri from Kotranka veered off the road at Mandir Gala and crashed in a field.
Seven persons were injured in the accident, including two teenagers and four women, said an official.
He said the injured were rushed to civil hospital by the locals.
After administering the first aid, four injured were referred to GMC Associated Hospital Rajouri, he added.
MeT Forecasts Mainly Dry Weather In Jammu And Kashmir
JAMMU, Sept 15: Weather department here on Thursday predicted mainly dry weather with possibility of very light rain at one or two places on higher reaches in Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours.
A meteorological department official said that no ‘significant weather’ was expected for subsequent two days also.
Regarding the minimum temperature, he said, Srinagar recorded a low of 14.0°C, same as on the previous night. The temperature was 0.9°C above normal for the summer capital during this time of the year, he said.
Jammu recorded a low of 24.5°C, same as on the previous night. It was 1.2°C above normal for J&K’s winter capital, he said. Banihal recorded a low of 14.8°C, Batote 16.8°C, Katra 23.4°C and Bhadarwah 14.7°C.
Qazigund recorded a low of 12.8°C, also the same on the previous night. The temperature was 1.4°C above normal there, he said.
In Pahalgam, he said, the mercury settled at 8.7°C against 9.2°C on the previous night and it was 0.2°C above normal for the south Kashmir resort.
Kokernag recorded a low of 11.8°C against 12.0°C the previous night and it was normal for the place, he said.
World famous Gulmarg resort recorded a low of 8.2°C against 7.5°C on the previous night. It was 0.8°C below normal for the north Kashmir place, he said.
In Kupwara town, the mercury settled at 11.0°C against 11.1°C the previous night, the official said. It was 0.2°C below normal for the north Kashmir place, he said. (Agencies)
BJP hails tribal status for Hatti community of Himachal Pradesh
BJP State President and MP Suresh Kashyap hailed the approval granted by the Union cabinet for the inclusion of the Hatti community of the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, Kashyap said that the five-decade struggle of the Hatti community has borne fruits with the union cabinet acceding to the demand.
The Trans-Giri area had been demanding ST status ever since the Jaunsar-Bhawar which was once a part of Sirmaur now in Uttrakhand was accorded tribal status in 1967, he said, adding that the people of adjacent Jaunsar-Bawar region having similar culture, traditions and interrelationship.
He said that successive BJP governments and the leaders of the party had been raising the demand continuously with the Centre.
“Former Chief Minister’s Shanta Kumar, Prem Kumar Dhumal and the incumbent CM Jai Ram Thakur, MP Virender Kashyap, MLA Reena Kashyap, former MLA Baldev Tomar had strived hard to get the demand fulfilled,” he said.
“The state government sent its proposal to the central government in May 2005, but it was rejected. After this the Congress government of the state did nothing. When the BJP government came into power in Himachal and Prem Kumar Dhumal became the Chief Minister, then the efforts started again. In August 2011, work began on the preparation of a new report on the culture and condition of the Hatti community,” said he.
Expressing gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kashyap gave special credit to CM Jai Ram Thakur for pushing it hard with the Central leadership.
He said that Thakur had specially contributed to lend impetus to around fifty-years old demand of the people of the area and this decision of the union cabinet will go a long way to benefit the Hatti community in future.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur raised this matter with the Union Home Minister and Union Tribal Affairs Minister on 4 August 2018. A fresh ethnographic proposal was sought from the Center on this subject. The Himachal government prepared a new ethnographic proposal and sent it to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The Chief Minister once again sent a letter to the Union Home Minister on March 10, 2022, urging him to direct the Registrar of India to consider the proposal of granting ST status to the Hati community.
“The Chief Minister also met the Union Home Minister on 11 March 2022 in this regard. After this, in April 2022, the Registrar General of India agreed to include the Hatti community living in the Trans-Giri area in the Scheduled Tribes, and today the Union Cabinet approved the Scheduled Tribe status to the Hati community living in the Trans-Giri area,” he said.
He claimed that about 3.5 lakh people will be benefited by this decision. “With the status of the tribal area, people here will get the benefit of special schemes and will get additional funds, which will help in increasing the pace of development in this backward area,” said Kashyap.
Active Covid cases in country increase to 46,389
New Delhi, Sept 15: India added 6,422 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,45,16,479, while the active cases increased to 46,389, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The death toll climbed to 28,250 with 34 fatalities which includes 20 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 2.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.71 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 640 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.04 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 1.71 per cent, according to the ministry.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,39,41,840, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.19 per cent.
According to the ministry, 215.98 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.
The 14 new deaths recorded in last 24 hours include two from Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttarakhand. (Agencies)
Manasbal Lake restored after 33 years for NCC Naval Wing training camp
Kashmir is the best place for training for National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets belonging to the Naval Wing.
The most suitable for this is Manasbal lake in the Ganderbal district, but due to the deteriorating security situation, the training area was shifted from Manasbal lake to Mansar lake in the Jammu region in 1989. The NCC cadets from Kashmir Valley faced a lot of difficulties in travelling to Mansar Lake and participating in the training. The security situation in Kashmir has improved and with the support of the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, the Manasbal Lake Development Authority and the Army successfully restored the training area after 33 years on 11th September 2022.
According to the Defence spokesperson, the local authorities have provided excellent infrastructure with adequate camping space in front of the lake and two naval training boats have been shifted here from Mansar Lake.
The first training camp for 100 senior NCC cadets (boys and girls) is going to be held here from 26th September in which cadets from all districts will participate to prepare for the National Level NCC Camp to be held at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on 2nd October 2022. Tents are currently being installed at the NCC camp to accommodate the participants, however, there are plans to set up a proper training centre with better infrastructure soon.
It is a golden and memorable day for the NCC cadets of Kashmir. With the availability of training facilities for Valley NCC cadets in Manasbal, they will not have to come all the way to Jammu for training. This will also increase the number of volunteers joining Naval Wing NCC.