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Crimes against children up by 39% in J&K

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Crimes against children in Jammu and Kashmir have reported a jump of 39.4 percent in 2021, NCRB data said.

The report,states that J&K has reported 473 crime cases in 2018 followed by 470 in 2019 , 606 in 2020 and then 845 in 2021.

As per data the most prominent crimes against children are kidnapping and abduction as 478 incidents of kidnapping were reported in the year 2021 and in 478 cases 493 victims were involved.

It said there were 1,013 cases of kidnapping and abduction cases recorded in Jammu and Kashmir thereby witnessing 16 percent increase in such cases as in year 2020, 868 such cases were reported

Kidnapping and abduction cases in J&K had shown an abrupt decrease in the last three years as 1,137 such cases were recorded in 2018, 961 in 2019 and 2020 and last year it has increased again as 1,013 such cases were reported last year.

As per data, seven cases of murder of Children, four cases of infanticide and three cases of foeticide in J&K last year

Clear to partly cloudy weather likely in J&K

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Jammu, Sep 3: Weather was mainly clear in J&K during the last 24 hours as the MeT office said on Saturday that mainly clear to partly cloudy weather is likely during the next 24 hours.

“Mainly clear to partly cloudy weather is likely in J&K during the next 24 hours,” MeT department official said.

Srinagar had 18.2, Pahalgam 12 and Gulmarg 10 degrees Celsius as the minimum temperature today.

In Ladakh region, Drass town had 7.3, Leh 10.9 and Kargil 15.3 as the minimum temperature.

Jammu had 23.5, Katra 22.4, Batote 17, Banihal 15.8 and Bhaderwah 17.8 as the minimum temperature.

Two grenades recovered in Ramban: JK Police

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Two grenades were recovered from Jabbar forests of Gool area on the “disclosure of main conspirator” of a recent blast in the Ramban district, officials said.

According to police, Shoket Ali Laiwal son of Latief Laiwal of Thakrakot Reasi , who was arrested recently, was the main conspirator in the case—FIR No. 69/2022 u/s 307/120-B/121 IPC, 16/17/18/18B/19/20/38/39 UAPA, 4/5 Explosive Act of police station Gool.

“The grenades were concealed in the Jabbar forests of Gool area with the intention of being used on security forces in near future”, police said.

spot alongwith Laiwal and Naib Tehsildar Gool. “Two live grenades were recovered from the spot in the presence of SP Ramban Ms Mohita Sharma IPS and SDPO Gool Nihar Ranjan”.

Police said that on 2 August this year, at around 0452 hours some unidentified person(s) exploded grenade at Police Post Ind under the jurisdiction of Police Station Gool. On this, a Case FIR No 69/2022 was registered in Police Station Gool and investigation was taken up.

First time in J&K, colleges to get ranking on performance, excellence

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In a first in J&K, performance of the colleges will be judged through comprehensive ranking system to be launched by Higher Education Department (HED).

Regarding this innovative initiative, Principal Secretary HED and Information Department, Rohit Kansal says ranking of all Higher Educational Institutions in J&K would be carried out on the basis of asset of transparent criterion and a unique index.

The Department has roped in IIT Jammu as knowledge partner to design the unique index as well as a special portal to collect the information and rank the colleges.

The MoU would be signed between the Directorate of Colleges J&K and the IIT Jammu soon. The two autonomous colleges of J&K viz. GDC Baramulla and GCW Parade would assist the Directorates of Higher Education in the unique initiative.

A core team would be drawn from Govt College Parade, GDC Baramulla and Director Colleges to help in the creation of indices and primary data would be provided by the department to the IIT team for formulation of ranking indices.

The IIT team would be responsible for creating an index of colleges based on the department’s suggestions, creation of an online portal/ dashboard and processing of raw data to prepare the final college rankings.

Rankings would be a useful guide for students in making a decision about whether a college is doing well in a general academic area compared with its peer institutions. Earlier the perception data was the major factor for choosing colleges in J&K by student community which was sometimes “misleading and amenable to manipulation”.

Now with the initiative hard quantifiable data would provide a more reliable basis for building a ranking matric.

The reliance on quantifiable data presents a result- or output-oriented approach in defining top colleges. The ranking is helpful in evaluating institutions based on what they have achieved over the last year.

The performance of the college in a diverse range of activities including academics, sports activities, research, placement, innovation, diversity, quality would be used to develop an index which in turn would be used to rank the colleges. The IIT Jammu management is very much happy at the opportunity of carrying out such an exercise which would be among the first such initiatives in the country.

Notably, Higher Education Department has already declared 2022 as the year of Excellence and all the colleges have been given broad guidelines for achieving excellence under five broad segments: Achievements under Academic Excellence, Enhancing Skills and Employability, Research and Innovation, My College My Pride, Rewarding Efforts and Achievement.

A student facing difficulty in choosing between the two colleges usually research the thorough breakdown of each parameter and sub-parameters to understand how the colleges stand on the individual aspects most relevant to the student. It’s cumbersome to trawl through hundreds of institutions for their individual scores in each parameter, especially during the heat and hurry of the admission season. Now with the initiative the process would be easily reflective of all criterias. The proposed College Ranking System would encourage the Higher Educational Institutions to strive for excellence and would also enable the department to spot and incentivize the leaders and handhold those who needed assistance.

To improve the standard of the colleges in J&K and take them to the level of competing with best colleges across the country , the feedback system launched by the department is already operational and is providing the students an opportunity to provide feedback about the quality of learning experience. Similarly, the teachers have also been facilitated by the system to provide inputs on the infrastructure and other administrative aspects of their respective colleges.

Congress vs Ex-Congress: Azad’s J&K Rally, Grand Old Party’s Delhi Event Set Stage for Sunday Showdown

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JAMMU, Sept 3: The stage is set for a battle of ideologies and show of strength this Sunday as former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad will hold a rally in his home turf of J&K to gauge the mood of the public, while the Grand Old Party takes to the streets in Delhi against inflation, unemployment and LPG price hike.
In the former chief minister’s hometown Bhaderwah in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district, locals are happy to welcome him and are upbeat about his future plans since he severed ties with the Congress in a public spat where he blamed Rahul Gandhi for the degeneration of the Grand Old Party.
Most supporters of Azad in Bhaderwah say they will always side with him, irrespective of which party he represents. “Azad saab has always worked for the people of Bhaderwah. Even when he was in Delhi, he never forgot the people of this area,” a local businessman said.
The Congress, meanwhile, has tweeted a video of a protest by party workers in Azad’s home block against him, with party general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeting: “This is ground reality, not reality manufactured by people sitting in New Delhi in Modi Sarkar sanctioned bungalows with huge lawns and planting fake news.”
The J&K Congress also tweeted a video of Congress workers of all blocks of Bhallessa sub-division assembled at the Gandoh office for the monthly meeting conducted on the first day of every month for the last over 50 years.
Azad’s scathing letter on his resignation from the Congress, a party he has been associated with for years, took the top brass by surprise amid discussions about elections to the post of Congress chief. While the Gandhis are not keen to take up the post, the name of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is doing the rounds of political circles.
On Sunday, the Congress is holding a ‘Mehangai Par Halla Bol’ rally. The party had also organised ‘Mehangai Chaupals’ or interactive meetings at mandis, retail markets and other locations in all the assembly constituencies from August 17 to 23.
The party had printed booklets and distributed them to all the state organisations. They were then translated and printed in the local languages for distribution among the public. (Agencies)

Covid-19: India logs 7,219 infections today, active cases near 56k

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India on Saturday saw a slight rise in daily Covid-19 cases with the country recording 7,219 fresh infections in the past 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data. Yesterday, the country had logged over 6,000 Covid-19 cases.

In India, the active caseload is also witnessing a downward journey from the past few days. Currently, India has 56,745 active cases, while the country had more than 59,000 active infections yesterday.

According to the Ministry, 9,651 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 4,38,65,016. The recovery rate currently stands at 98.68 per cent.

The overall COVID death toll rose to 5,27,965 with 33 fatalities in the last 24 hours, which includes eight deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.

As many as 3,64,886 COVID samples were tested in the last 24 hours. The weekly case positivity rate came out to be 2.42 per cent. A total of 88.68 crore samples have been tested in the country so far.

Under the nationwide vaccination drive, 25,83,815 doses of COVID vaccines were administered during this period taking the total number of vaccine doses jabbed so far to 213.01 crore.

India’s COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23, 2021 and four crore on January 25 this year.

Kejriwal’s five promises to farmers in Gujarat

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday made five “key promises” to farmers in Gujarat while addressing a rally at Dwarka town in the state’s Saurashtra region.

He said if the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power, his government will procure wheat, rice, cotton, groundnut etc. at the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

The other promises include waiving farm loans, re-conducting the survey of agricultural land earlier conducted by the BJP government which will be scrapped and re-survey will be hold.

The AAP leader has promised to give power supply during day time for 12 continuous hours apart from giving assistance — if crop fails — Rs 20,000 per acre.

“Narmada projects field canals will be completed in entire Narmada command area,” he said.

The Delhi Chief Minister has reiterated to give stipend to unemployed youth and will create 10 lakh government jobs in one year. The AAP leader has appealed to give his party one chance in Gujarat.

Banihal labourer’s body recovered from Jhelum in Srinagar two days after drowning

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Srinagar, Sept 3: The body of a labourer from Banihal who had drowned in river Jhelum while extracting sand two days ago, was retrieved on Saturday in Rajbagh area of Srinagar.

Jaffar Wani, 22, drowned into the river Jhelum while extracting sand in Sonwar area of Srinagar, news agency KNO reported.

Soon, a rescue operation was launched by Srinagar River Police and SDRF to retrieve his body, which was finally recovered today morning, an official said.

Police have taken cognizance of the incident and the body has been sent to hospital for medico-legal formalities, he added.

Supreme Court grants interim bail to Teesta Setalvad in 2002 Gujarat riots cases

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New Delhi, September 2: The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to activist Teesta Setalvad in a case in which she was arrested for allegedly fabricating documents to frame innocent people in the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. The apex court directed Setalvad to surrender her passport till the matter is considered by the High Court.
A bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit, Justice S Ravindra Bhat and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said that in its view Setalvad is entitled to release on interim bail.
The bench also said that Setalvad shall be produced before the concerned court for interim bail and the concerned court shall release her in bail subject to such conditions that the concerned court deem fit.
In its order, the top court noted that Teesta, a lady, has been in custody since two months and the investigative machinery has had the advantage of custodial interrogation of her for seven days.
“In our view, the appellant (Setalvad) is entitled to the release on interim bail… We are not considering whether Setalvad is released on bail or not and High Court shall decide the same. We are only on during the pendency of such application, should the custody of the appellant be insisted upon or be granted interim bail. We have considered the matter only from the standpoint of interim bail… Thus, we grant Teesta Setalvad interim bail,” the bench stated in its order.
It added, “The entire matter on merits shall be considered by the High Court independently and uninfluenced by any observations made by this court. It is clarified that the order passed considering facts including that she is a lady and shall not be used by other accused and submissions of other accused be considered purely on their merits.”
The order of the apex court came on a plea of Setalvad seeking interim bail. She has approached the top court against the August 3 order of the Gujarat High Court which issued notice to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) seeking its response to bail applications filed by Setalvad and former Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) RB Sreekumar and posted the hearing on September 19.
Yesterday, the apex court bench took objection on the conduct of the Gujarat High Court where the High Court had issued a notice of Setalvad’s plea on August 3 but posted the matter for further hearing after six weeks on September 19.
It had asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Gujarat to give it a case where a lady is in confinement on charges like this and the High Court has given a date after six weeks and asked if is the normal pattern in bail cases like this.
Mehta today produced orders passed by High Courts in which long dates were given saying that Setalvad was not singled out and this has been the uniform practice in High Court in similar cases.
Solicitor General argued that there is sufficient material apart from FIR pointing towards the involvement of Setalvad in the offences alleged.
Earlier, the top court filed an affidavit and told the apex court there is a strong case made out against Setalvad for some of the most serious offences whereby criminal conspiracy was hatched for and by fabricating false evidence with a clear intention to get a conviction of several persons for capital punishment 2002 Gujarat riots.
The affidavit of the Gujarat government has stated that the FIR against Setalvad for falsifying evidence related to the riots, is not solely based on a top court judgment but is backed by evidence.
Systematic efforts were made to ensure that both oral and other evidence is fabricated, the affidavit stated.
Setalvad and Sreekumar had approached the High Court after their bail applications were rejected by the Ahmedabad city sessions court.
On July 30, the Ahmedabad sessions court had refused to grant bail to Setalvad and Sreekumar while noting that the accused appeared to have aimed to “destabilise” the Gujarat government and defame the state for their ulterior motives.
They were arrested by the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch on June 25 on the basis of a First Information Report (FIR) registered against them under sections 468 (forgery for cheating) and 194 (fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction for capital offences) of the Indian Penal Code.
The SIT formed to probe the case has alleged that Setalvad and Sreekumar were part of a larger conspiracy carried out at the behest of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel to destabilise the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.
Former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt is also an accused in the case.
The FIR against Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt was registered after the Supreme Court had on June 24 dismissed the plea filed by Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, challenging the clean chit given by the SIT to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others in 2002 Gujarat riots.
Ehsan Jafri was among 69 people killed during the violence at Gulberg Society in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002. Zakia Jafri has challenged the SIT’s clean chit to 64 people including Narendra Modi who was the Gujarat Chief Minister during the riots in the State.
She had alleged a “larger conspiracy” behind the post-Godhra incident riots.
However, the SIT in the apex court had opposed the plea of Jafri saying there is a sinister plot behind the complaint to probe the “larger conspiracy” behind the 2002 Gujarat riots and the original complaint by Jafri was directed by Teesta Setalvad, who levelled allegations just to keep the pot boiling. (Agencies)

Apni Party delegation will meet LG to seek restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood: Bukhari

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SRINAGAR, Sept 2: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari on Friday said a party delegation would call on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha soon to formally demand the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
Addressing a press conference here, Bukhari also demanded the release of the youths who were detained in Kashmir Valley.
Bukhari said when his party was formed, it had three main agendas — protection of job and land rights of Jammu and Kashmir residents and the restoration of statehood.
”We got the order of job reservation even though there is a point of domicile. But when the statehood is restored and a government is in place, we will restore the PRC (permanent resident certificate) for the citizens of J-K,” he said.
There is 95 per cent protection of land as agricultural land cannot be brought by non-residents, he added.
Bukhari said a delegation of his party will call on the lieutenant governor to seek the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
”We held a meeting today where everyone unanimously decided that a delegation of Apni Party will meet the LG and demand the restoration of statehood formally,” he said.
He said during his public meetings in the last three months, people have been advocating the demand for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.
”We will also submit memorandums to the LG through Deputy Commissioners in all the 20 districts across J-K. We want to register and achieve the statehood which was taken away from us on August 5, 2019,” he said.
He said the prime minister and the Union home minister had promised in Parliament that Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood would be restored. The former state minister also demanded the release of the youths detained in Kashmir Valley in the past few months.
”Preventive detentions have taken place in the last few months. First they (authorities) said it was to maintain law and order. Then they said it was for the smooth conduct of the Amarnath Yatra. Now that the Yatra is over and it concluded smoothly, we demand that all the youths in jails be released,” he said.
He said there was a “draconian system” of detaining people for some faults of their relatives.
They are not given employment. Some are told the verification of their credentials is awaited. ”Should we then hang our youths in Lal Chowk as there is no future for them,” he said.
Asked about the apprehensions of outsiders being added to the electoral rolls in Jammu and Kashmir, Bukhari said the government had given assurances that there would be no wrongdoing.
”When this exercise will culminate by the end of September, we will pick up the first rolls to check if there are outsiders,” he said.
On a question about former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad announcing floating a new party in Jammu and Kashmir, Bukhari said the former Rajya Sabha MP might have defended Article 370 in Parliament and even tore his shirt, “but let me tell the truth that Azad sahab voted for the abrogation of Article 370”. (Agencies)