New Delhi, August 5: India and China held a special round of military talks on Tuesday at the Chushul-Moldo border meeting point in Eastern Ladakh to discuss air space violations and provocations by the Chinese side in that area in the last 45 days.
The talks were held after the Indian Air Force sternly countered the Chinese attempts to provoke in the Eastern Ladakh sector by violating air space and the confidence-building measure lines which mandate that both sides should fly fighter planes within 10 Kms of the LAC.
“During the military talks, the Indian side strongly raised objections over the Chinese flying activities near Eastern Ladakh sector for over a month now and asked them to avoid such provocative activities,” government sources said.
The talks have also come at a time when the Chinese are having tense relations with multiple countries including the US over a high-profile American visit to Taiwan and its firing of ballistic missiles in the Japanese Exclusive Economic Zone.
The talks between the two sides included Air Force officers from both sides along with Army representatives.
The Indian Air Force was represented by Air Commodore Amit Sharma from the Operations branch while an equivalent rank officer came from the People’s Liberation Army’s Air Force side for the discussions.
The Indian Army was represented by a Major General-rank officer under the Fire and Fury Corps headed by Lt Gen A Sengupta, the sources said.
The Chinese have been complaining about the Indian Air Force upgrading its capability to detect Chinese Air Force aircraft operating within the territory controlled by them in the Tibet region.
The confrontation between the two Air Forces started in June last week when on June 25, a PLAAF J-11 fighter aircraft flew very close to a friction point in Eastern Ladakh around 4 AM and was picked up by both men on ground as well as radars.
The Chinese activities opposite the Chumar sector continued for over a month and the Indian Air Force responded strongly by scrambling its fighter aircraft including the Mirage 2000 and MiG-29s from its advance bases near the Ladakh region.
The sources said the Chinese had not expected such a strong reaction from the IAF which was ready for taking on any possible misadventure from the PLAAF side.
During this time, IAF was also taking precautions to ensure that there was no escalation of the matters on the ground along with keeping a close watch on their air activities, they said.
In an earlier interview with news agency a few weeks ago, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari had stated that “Whenever we find that Chinese aircraft or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) are coming a little too close to the LAC, we take appropriate measures by scrambling our fighters or putting our systems on high alert. This has deterred them to quite an extent,” the IAF chief said.
The Air Force elements of both countries are now likely to form part of the talks between the two countries at the Corps Commander level in future also.
India and China have held 16 rounds of Corps commander-level talks between them to deescalate the situation and tensions which started after the Chinese tried to alter the status quo on the LAC in 2020.
Till now, the talks led by the Fire and Fury Corps Commander from the Indian side have representatives from the ITBP and the Ministry of External Affairs.
The two sides have been able to resolve three frictions points in eastern Ladakh and are holding discussions to find solutions for the Hot Springs area also.
The Chinese are discussing only the issues of boundary dispute which have emerged post-May 2020 and have refused to hold talks on legacy issues.
The Indian Air Force has upgraded its detection. capabilities along the China border in the Ladakh sector also but it has to further strengthen its network and coverage to keep a close eye on the PLAAF activities near the Indian territory. (Agencies)
India, China held military talks this week to discuss air space violations, provocations by Chinese Air Force
No fresh batch of pilgrims leaves for Amarnath shrine from Jammu
JAMMU, Aug 6: No fresh batch of pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the cave shrine of Amarnath in the south Kashmir Himalayas on Saturday, officials said amid a decline in the footfall of the devotees.
On August 2, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had appealed to the Amarnath pilgrims to visit the cave shrine before August 5 in view of a forecast of inclement weather and more rains.
The 43-day annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre-high cave shrine commenced on June 30 on the twin routes — the traditional 48-km Nunwan-Pahalgam route in Anantnag and the 14-km shorter Baltal route in Ganderbal. It is scheduled to end on August 11 on the occasion of “Shravan Purnima” coinciding with “Raksha Bandhan”.
“No fresh batch of Amarnath pilgrims left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp here for the valley on Saturday,” a police official said.
Sources said the number of devotees intending to undertake the yatra witnessed a substantial decline over the last week due to the premature melting of the naturally formed ice-shivling at the cave shrine.
“Over three lakh devotees from across the country have had Baba’s darshan. Because of the rising temperatures, Baba does not have that form and the nature is also not supporting it.
“There has been heavy rainfall in many areas. I would like to request the devotees across the country, who are yet to have darshan, to come before August 5 as more rains are predicted after that,” the LG had said.
Fifteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and 55 injured in flash floods due to heavy rains near the cave shrine on July 8.
Meanwhile, a fresh batch of 360 pilgrims, including 145 women and 19 children, left the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in a fleet of 12 vehicles for the Buddha Amarnath shrine in Poonch district on Saturday, the officials said. (Agencies)
World U20 Athletics Championship: Triple jumper Selva P Thirumaran clinches silver
CALI, AUGUST 6: Indian triple jumper Selva P Thirumaran improved his personal best to clinch the silver medal at the World U20 Athletics Championship here.
The 17-year-old managed a distance of 16.15m to finish two centimetres ahead of Estonia’s Viktor Morozov.
The gold went to Jamaican Jaydon Hibbert who broke the Championship Record with his 17.27m effort.
Thirumaran’s silver-winning jump came in his second attempt.
The Indian women’s team qualified for the 4x400m relay finals.
The quartet of Summy, Priya Habbathanahalli Mohan, Rajitha Kunja and Rupal clocked 3:34.18 to finish second in heat 3 and fourth fastest overall.
Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was the first Indian to win a gold in the championships in 2016 in Poland.
Indian athletes have picked up three medals at the tournament, which was earlier known as World Junior Championships, so far, including two silver and a bronze.
In the last edition in Nairobi in 2021, India had won three medals – 2 silver, 1 bronze. (Agencies)
Omicron, sub-lineages circulating predominantly in India: Reports
New Delhi, August 6: The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), in a weekly meeting, reviewed the data of genomic surveillance of variants and found that at present, Omicron and its sub-lineages are the predominant mutataions that are circulating in India.
“Presently, only Omicron and its sub-lineages are the predominant circulating variants in India,” sources said today.
“The COVID-19 cases are rising, but hospitalization and deaths are still less,” said sources.
“We review the data every week, but there is no need to panic at all because hospitalization hasn’t increased and no new variant has been found so far,” added sources.
INSACOG will release its bulletin regarding the presence of Omicron sub-lineages soon.
According to the bulletin issued on July 11 by INSACOG, Omicron and its sub lineages continue to be the dominant variant in India. “BA.2.75 sub-variant has acquired more mutations in spike protein and other genes of the SARS-CoV-2,” and it also mentioned that the variant is being closely monitored.
INSACOG is jointly initiated by the Union Health Ministry of Health and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“COVID-19 is a cyclical viral disease like many others. Immunity from infection is short-lived for coronaviruses, unlike measles or chicken pox viruses. Newer Omicron sub-lineages are especially capable of leaping past the immunity generated by older versions of the same variant,” said Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, co-Chairman of National Indian Medical Association’s COVID-19 task force.
“The longer we are past the recent infection or the last vaccine dose, the more the number of susceptible people in a region. Many people are not following basic precautions now, and therefore making the virus spread by aerosol is easier. The public must understand that the virus has not gone away,” he said further.
The national capital on Friday recorded 2,419 new COVID-19 cases, which is the highest in six months.
India recorded as many as 19,406 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.
The tally of COVID-19 cases is now at 4,41,26,994 including 1,34,793 active cases. Active cases account for 0.31 per cent of the total cases.
The recovery rate is currently at 98.50 per cent. As many as 19,928 recoveries from the infection were logged in the last 24 hours thereby increasing the total recoveries to 4,34,65,552.
The single-day rise of 49 fatalities has pushed India’s COVID-19 death toll to 5,26,649, the government data added.
The daily positivity rate, as per the government data, is at 4.96 per cent and the weekly positivity rate is at 4.63 per cent. The data further informed that 87.75 crore of total tests have been conducted so far of which 3,91,187 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
On the COVID-19 vaccination front, over 205.92 crore total vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. (Agencies)
Badyal, Mir among 24 JKAS officers to retire in 2023
JAMMU: Secretary Department, Industries and Commerce and Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Kashmir are among twenty-four members of Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS), who will retire on attaining the age of superannuation during the calendar year 2023.
As per a GAD notification, those would attain the age of superannuation in 2023 included Kusum Badyal Secretary in the Department, Industries and Commerce; Abdul Salam Mir Director, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Kashmir; Ramesh Chander Additional District Development Commissioner, Jammu; Babu Ram Additional Secretary to the Government, Agriculture Production Department; Choudhary Mohammad Rashid Special Secretary to the Government, Floriculture, Parks and Gardens Department; Manzoor Hussain Additional District Development Commissioner, Shopian; Syed Muried Hussain Shah Additional Secretary to the Government, ARI and Trainings Department and Mohammad Altaf Wani Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Development Authority, Kokemag.
Rajinder Kumar Additional Secretary to the Government, Information Technology Department; Shahida Parveen Programme Officer, ICDS Project, Doda; Irshad Ahmad Programme Officer, ICDS Project, Budgam; Devinder Paul Deputy Commissioner Commercial Taxes, State Taxes (Stamps), Jammu; Bashir Ahmad Bhat Joint Secretary in the J-K Sports Council, Srinagar; Zameer Ahmad Rishu Awaiting orders of adjustment in the General Administration Department; Masood Ahmad Qazi Revenue Attorney in the office of Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir and Archana Raina Deputy Secretary to the Government, Social Welfare Department will also retire in the year 2023. Besides, the names of KAS officers viz., Masooda Akhter Deputy Director, Social Welfare, ICDS, Kashmir; Abhay Ram Gupta Deputy District Election Officer, Kathua; Mushtaq Ahmad Wani Deputy Director, District Employment & Counseling Centre Budgam; Iftikhar Rasool Hamdani Deputy Secretary, J-K Public Service Commission; Anjali Fotedar Deputy Secretary to the Government, Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction; Dewakar Khajuria Deputy District Election Officer, Samba. (AGENCIES)
Urdu newspaper owner booked in cheating case in Jammu
Jammu, 6 August: Police today claimed to have booked an Urdu news paper owner in a cheating case under section 420 IPC in connection with embezzlement with Information department.
Police said that during investigation of case FIR Number 27 of 2022 under section 10/13/39/Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of Police Station Peermitha, Jammu, it has came to fore that the owner of Rah-e-Manzil, Urdu Daily News Paper, situated at Talab Khatikan, Jammu namely Mohammed Sharief Sartaj, son of Shamas-Ul-Din Rather, resident of Changa Bhalessa, Tehsil Gandoh, District Doda at present Sunjwan has been printing nearly 150-200 news papers on daily basis, but has dishonestly reflected 18000 news papers for pecuniary gain of obtaining advertisements from Information Department J&K and for certain other reasons.
On this, a case FIR Number 41/2022 U/S 420/IPC has been registered at Police Station Peermitha and investigation has been set into motion.
It is pertinent to mention that during investigation of the earlier case under FIR no 01 of 2007 which was lodged at Police Station City, several raids were conducted at various suspected places and relevant documents were seized in huge numbers.
After scrutinising the records, police said, a case under FIR Number 27 of 2022 under section 10/13/39/Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was registered and investigated by SDPO North Sharad Kalu. After further investigation certain important revelations emerged which led to the registration of the instant case.
Partly cloudy weather, light rain likely in J&K: MeT deptt
The Meteorological (MeT) department on Saturday forecast partly cloudy sky with light rain at isolated places in Jammu and Kashmir during next 24 hours.
“Partly cloudy weather with light rain at isolated places is likely during the next 24 hours in J&K”, an official of the MeT department said.
Worried’, Div Com Kashmir says watching Covid situation closely
Amid the major spike in Covid cases, the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang Kundbarao Pole on Friday said the administration was worried and closely watching the evolving Covid-19 situation noting that the surge in daily count of cases was worrisome.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, he said the proportionate response will be given by the government as per the situation as and when needed.
“We are definitely worried about the situation and at the same time there should be some proportionate response. We are watchful of the evolving situation,” he told Greater Kashmir.
Notably, J&K particularly the Kashmir region has seen a major spike in the cases for the last few days which has made the situation worrisome.
On Thursday and Friday, out of total cases 81 percent and 77 percent cases were reported from Kashmir region alone while the number of active cases increases by 100 on a daily basis.
“We are worried about it and we will take appropriate decisions at appropriate level as per the requirement,” Pole said.
Over the past few days, scores of Covid-19 positive cases were reported from schools, colleges and Universities raising fingers on the adoption of Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) and adherence to other Covid SoPs which are already in place.
“Yes, it is a serious matter and all the schools, colleges and Universities will be sensitised and directed to adopt CAB and adhere to SoPs. There should be no laxity in it,” he said.
He said the government will not give any disproportionate response to the evolving situation.
“We are equally concerned over the situation as you are. Proper response will be given what is demanded as per situation,” he said.
The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir said the administration will increase its response as and when the situation demands.
“It is a matter of worry but at the same time economic and other activities should not suffer,” he said.
Eight students injured after bus falls into gorge in J&K’s Udhampur
Udhampur, August 6: Eight students were injured after a mini bus in which they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell into a gorge near Massora in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district.
The bus was enroute to Udhampur from Barmeen village.
The injured have been shifted to a district hospital.
Further details are awaited. (Agencies)
COVID-19: India records 19,400 new cases, 49 deaths
New Delhi, Aug 6: With 19,406 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India’s tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,41,26,994, while active cases declined to 1,34,793, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
The death toll has climbed to 5,26,649 with 49 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent, the ministry said.
A decrease of 571 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.96 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was 4.63 per cent, it said.
The number of recoveries surged to 4,34,65,552, while the case fatality rate 1.19 per cent.
Of the 49 new fatalities, five each were reported from Maharashtra and West Bengal, three from Chhattisgarh, two each from Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Tripura, and one each from Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
Additionally, 11 deaths have been reconciled by Kerala as per Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines.
Of the 5,26,649 deaths reported so far, 1,48,129 are from Maharashtra, 70,548 from Kerala, 40,155 from Karnataka, 38,033 from Tamil Nadu, 26,327 from Delhi, 23,574 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,389 from West Bengal.
The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),” the ministry said on its website, adding that statewise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
According to the ministry, 205.92 crore doses against Covid 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.
India crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4, three crore on June 23 last year and four crore on January 25 this year. (Agencies)