JAMMU, Nov 3: A major infiltration bid was foiled by the army along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said.
“On 03 Nov 2022, at about 1000 hours, the alert soldiers of the Indian Army observed suspicious movement of some individuals along the Line of Control in the Poonch sector (J&K), wherein they were trying to infiltrate across the Line of Control, into the Indian side,” read a statement, issued by the army.
“The alert troops challenged the infiltrators and the terrorists fired on own troops . In the ensuing fire fight, one terrorist body has been recovered along with Two AK -47 Rifles, One Pistol and other war like stores,” it added.
The operation continues and the search of the area is under progress.
Infiltration bid foiled in Poonch, 3 militants killed
BJP’s only motive is to rule rather than to serve: Harsh Dev
Jammu, 03-11-2022: “While the educated unemployed youth, the under-employed, the contractuals and daily rated workers continue to languish on the roads, the BJP leadership was busy trumpeting its often parroted slogan of achieving 50+ seats in the Assembly elections. Rather than addressing the issues of the agitating youth and of other aggrieved sections of society, the saffron brigade continued with propagation of its political philosophy quite unmindful of the sufferings of the teeming millions in J&K. Having lost the art of conversation and the sensitivity to appreciate the woes of the common masses, the BJP govt and its proxies in J&K seemed to be completely obsessed with the idea of retaining power in the troubled UT by hook or crook”. This was stated by Mr. Harsh Dev Singh, Former Minister and Chairman AAP J&K State Co-ordination Committee today in a press conference after inducting dozens of youth in AAP who were introduced by Shankaar Singh Sanju, a Trade Union leader.
Maintaining that the BJP govt had dithered in fulfilling its promises on employment and curbing inflation, Mr. Singh said that the youth was the most disappointed lot under the present regime with unemployment rate having risen substantially in J&K during the last few years. The govt and private sectors had miserably failed to accommodate the ever increasing number of Job seekers giving rise to simmering discontent amongst the educated youth. And to add fuel to the fire, the BJP leaders were issuing vague, nauseating statements only to mislead the aspiring youth.BJP’s thought process and conduct militates against its pro youth rhetoric, said the AAP leader adding that its only objective was to rule rather than to serve. He cautioned that BJP’s lust for power would eventually prove its waterloo at the hustings.
Prominent among those who joined AAP included Sham Lal Sharma, Vijay Singh, Sunil Singh, Sushil Sharma, Jagdev Singh, Anil Singh, Chamail Singh, Suraj Singh, Arjun Singh, Pankaj Singh, Ajay Kumar, Rakesh Sharma, Hans Raj, Sunil Singh, Suraj Parkash besides others.Burj Khalifa lights up to wish Shah Rukh Khan on his 57th birthday
Dubai, November 3
Dubai’s iconic skyscraper Burj Khalifa lit up with a special message for Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan on his 57th birthday.
A video posted on Burj Khalifa’s Instagram page shows the world’s tallest building sparkling bright to wish SRK a very happy birthday.
The text “Happy Birthday Shah Rukh, Happy Birthday Pathaan. We love you” flashed on the screen as the track ‘Tujhe Dekha’ from Shah Rukh’s iconic 1995 film ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ played in the backdrop.
After seeing images and videos of Burj Khalifa lit up with the message for SRK, fans were extremely happy.
“How beautiful,” a social media user commented.
“Shah Rukh is a global star. Hail the king,” another one wrote.
Reportedly, it’s for the fifth time that SRK has appeared on Burj Khalifa. In 2021, Burj Khalifa honoured Shah Rukh on his 56th birthday. Burj Khalifa was lit on the actor’s birthday in 2020 as well.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Shah Rukh is all set to make his silver screen return after four years with ‘Pathaan’, which also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in lead roles. The action-packed film is scheduled to release on January 25, 2023.
PGI: J&K improves, but falls behind Ladakh, 15 other States & UTs
JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir bagged 17th spot among all the States and Union Territories in the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for school education for the year 2020-21, an improvement of 9 positions over the past year, but has lagged behind a number of much smaller and younger states and union territories such as Ladakh, Andaman and Nicobar Island, Sikkim and Chandigarh.
In the rankings for the year 2020-21 released by the Union Ministry of Education on Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir achieved 834 points of a maximum 1000 points, securing a place in the Level 4 (Grade 1).
In the year 2018-19, J&K- then a full-fledged state had scored 703 points and was positioned 29th in the country in Level 6 (Grade 3). In its first year as UT, it scored 763 points, bagging the 26th place in Level 5 (Grade 2).
Released by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, the PGI is a unique index for evidence based comprehensive analysis of school education system across State and UTs, and rates them on 70 indicators, grouped into 5 domains viz., Learning Outcomes (LO), Access (A), Infrastructure& Facilities (IF), Equity (E) & Governance Process (GP), totaling to a maximum score of 1000.
In this year’s PGI, Jammu and Kashmir has scored 132 points out of 180 in Learning Outcomes, 61 out of 80 in Access, 133 out of 150 in Infrastructure & Facilities, 197 out of 230 in Equity and 311 out of 360 in Governance Process, adding to a total score of 834 out of 1000.
This puts J&K at 17th position among all states and UTs, and fifth among the UTs in the country. The Ladakh UT, which was carved out of J&K in 2019 has done much better in comparison, securing 14th position by scoring 844 points.
Not just Ladakh, Chandigarh, Punjab, Himachal, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, TamilNadu, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Assam have performed better than Jammu and Kashmir in this year’s rankings.
The PGI assesses 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students across the country, to provide insights and data driven mechanism on school education to the states and UTs. It classifies the States and UTs into ten grades viz., highest achievable Grade is Level 1, for scores more than 950 points and lowest grade is Level 10 which is for score below 551. While none of the states and UTs could reach into Level 1, Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh attained Level II (score 901-950) in this year’s PGI, while 12 states penetrated into Level III, followed by Ladakh among 6 States and UTs in Level IV.
2-phase Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 & 5; results on December 8
New Delhi, November 3: The voting for the Gujarat Assembly elections will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5 while the counting of votes will be done on December 8, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Thursday.
“First phase of Assembly elections in Gujarat to be held on 1st December & second phase on 5th December; counting of votes to be done on 8th December,” he said.
The CEC informed that as many as 3,24,422 people would be first-time voters in the state.
“I am happy to inform that 3,24,422 new voters will vote for the first time this time in the Gujarat Assembly elections. The total number of polling stations is 51,782. At least 50 per cent of the polling stations set up in the state will have webcasting arrangements,” Kumar said.
“For a better voting experience, 1274 polling stations will be managed entirely by women and security staff. Public Works Department will welcome voters at 182 polling stations. For the first time, 33 polling stations will be set up and managed by the youngest polling staff,” he added. (Agencies)
New Omicron variants not causing significant rise in hospitalisations: Experts
MUMBAI, Nov 3: The new variants of Omicron, XXB and BQ.1, have not led to any significant rise in coronavirus infections and hospitalisations in Maharashtra, experts have said.
The symptoms caused by these strains of the virus are mild, they noted.
Dr. Anita Mathew, Infectious Disease Specialist at Fortis Hospital, Mulund, said many of the new patients are asymptomatic.
“Many people have incidental COVID-19. In other words, they are visiting the hospital for other health conditions and test positive for the coronavirus infection,” Dr. Mathew said.
Symptoms such as the loss of smell and taste, observed prominently in earlier infections, have not been noticed in many patients. Many of them report cold and cough, which is why there isn’t a lot of testing or self-isolation, Dr. Mathew added.
Dr. Mathew, however, stressed that vaccination against coronavirus was still important.
“One should be careful so that the risk of infecting others decreases,” Dr. Mathew said.
As per the state health department, 17% more COVID-19 cases were recorded during October 10 to 16 against the preceding week (October 3-9). The rise was noticed mainly in Thane, Raigad and Mumbai, all densely-populated districts.
The department had also cautioned that coronavirus cases could rise during winter and the festive season, citing new variants which have greater immune evasive ability.
Dr. Vasanthapuram Ravi, Virologist, Head, R&D, TATA Medical and Diagnostics (and Chairman of Karnataka Genomic Surveillance Committee) said the new strain of the virus and the disease genotype were no different from Omicron in terms of severity and asymptomatic status.
“It is a hybrid of two Omicron variants, 3.75 and BJ1, due to which it has a novel mutation in the spike proteins which makes it escape the antibodies generated by vaccines. This is why it is causing infections even in vaccinated people,” Dr. Ravi said.
But there is not much to worry due to its lessened severity though testing is still important, Dr. Ravi added.
If a patient tests positive for Omicron, he or she can get treatment for Omicron infection, Dr. Ravi said.
But if the test is negative for Omicron (despite symptoms) then one needs to immediately consult a physician in case there is a presence of a new variant or another virus like flu virus or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), Dr. Ravi added.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), in a statement, said it was keeping a close watch on the emergence and evolution of XBB and XBB.1 and any new sub-lineages.
But Indian patients infected with Omicron sub-lineage XBB of COVID-19 have mild disease, it went on to add.
Dr. Laxman Jessani, Consultant, Infectious Diseases at Apollo hospitals in Navi Mumbai, said the chances of hospitalisation and ICU admissions are low as the infections are mostly mild.
Dr. Jessani too said that there was no significant rise in cases in the last few weeks.
“High-risk groups and elderly people should avoid going out to prevent getting infected, especially in crowded places,” Dr. Jessani said, adding that wearing a mask is a must. (Agencies)
Dr Masood Tanvir assigned charge of Principal GMC Srinagar
SRINAGAR: Dr Masood Tanvir Bhat Head of the department of Medicine, Government Medical College Srinagar, has been assigned the charge of collage Principal on Thursday.
The arrangement has been made on temporary basis.
It added that he will hold the charge n his own pay and grade with immediate effect till regular appointment to the post is made.
RS Pura road blocked for two and half hours against miserable condition of RS Pura-Jammu road
Fed up with the repeated assurances, the residents led by senior DAP leader and Sarpanch Badrinath Sharma and Kissan leader Ch Mohan staged protest against Govt over miserable condition of RS Pura road and blocked the vehicular movement for couple of hours at Kotli Shah Doula today. After getting information, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and police contingent rushed to the spot to pacify the protestors, but people remained adamant and continued their protest.The protesters ended protest after assurance from SDM RS Pura along with SDPO and SHO Pura that blacktopping work will be started in couple of days.
Speaking on the occasion, DAP leader said the strategic RS Pura road especially from Panchayat Kotli Shah Doula to RS Pura has turned into a nightmare for commuters. The road, which we blacktopped years ago, is now full of potholes, making them potential death traps for motorists particularly during the rainy season. Sarpanch Badrinath Sharma was addressing protesters during huge protest against delaying blacktopping of road despite consistently bringing condition of road before the concerned authorities resulting in death of two youth yesterday in an accident at Kotli Shah Doula and several injuries to two wheelers for the last six months. Speaking to media persons, Badrinath Sharma said that despite claims by government to carry road repairs on priority, the roads and building department has done nothing to maintain them.“Nothing has changed in our area. Despite being a border area, the successive governments have neglected us. The condition of the basic infrastructure exposes all claims,” said Sharma.He alleged that their requests to concerned authorities had fallen on deaf ears. He said no steps have been taken in the last eight years to improve the basic infrastructure in the RS Pura sector.The roads are in a poor condition as not even simple repairs were carried out, Sharma said.“Despite series of protests, concerned departments have not paid any attention to our grievances. Now, residents are living with the hardships. You can see the condition of the Jammu-RS Pura road to understand how dangerous is to travel on it,” said Sharma.“We are facing lot of inconvenience in commuting to and fro with the damaged roads, which are really in a shabby condition. The roads are also not worth for old people to commute.Sharma informed that the aforesaid road is in worst condition for the past three years and the issue also stands taken up with the concerned officers of the department, but nothing has been done till date, which forced them to come on road and block the road. School going children and senior citizens are suffering a lot, but Govt seems least bothered towards the problems being faced by the people”, he added.Sarpanch appealed to the Lt Governor to intervene into the matter and get the construction work of the aforesaid road done on priority basis, so as to provide succor to the residents.
Bharat Jodo Yatra: Ex-Navy chief Admiral Ramdas joins Rahul Gandhi
HYDERABAD, Nov 3: Former Navy Chief Admiral L Ramdas joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Telangana on Thursday.
The Yatra resumed from Patancheru on the city outskirts Thursday morning and it will halt at Sivampet in Sangareddy district for the night, Congress sources said.
“Admiral Ramdas, former Chief of Naval Staff, who at 89 continues to be an indefatigable campaigner for public causes, along with his wife Lalita Ramdas, herself the daughter of Admiral Katari, 1st Indian Chief of Naval Staff, walked with @RahulGandhi on Day 57 of #BharatJodoYatra,” AICC General Secretary, in-charge, Communications, Jairam Ramesh, tweeted.
Congress president in Telangana and MP A Revanth Reddy, Lok Sabha member N Uttam Kumar Reddy and other party leaders walked with Gandhi in the morning session, the sources said.
The Yatra will take a break on Friday, they said.
The mega foot march of Gandhi entered the state on October 23 and the Telangana leg would conclude on November 7, the sources said.
The Yatra began on September 7 from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu. (AGENCIES)
Education Ministry releases report on Performance Grading Index for States, UTs
The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education today released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21, a unique index for evidence-based comprehensive analysis of school education system across State/UTs.
“The Indian Education System is one of the largest in the world with about 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students from varied socio-economic backgrounds. DoSE&L devised PGI for States/UTs to provide insights and data-driven mechanisms on the performance and achievements of on the success of school education across all States/UTs. The prime objective of PGI is to promote evidence-based policymaking and highlight course correction to ensure quality education for all. So far, DoSE&L has released the PGI report for the year 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. The present report is for the year 2020-21,” read an official statement. The PGI structure comprises 1000 points across 70 indicators grouped into 2 categories viz., Outcomes, Governance Management (GM). These categories are further divided into 5 domains, viz., Learning Outcomes (LO), Access (A), Infrastructure and Facilities (IF), Equity (E) and Governance Process (GP).
As was done in the previous years, PGI 2020-21 classified the States/UTs into ten grades viz., the highest achievable Grade is Level 1, which is for State/UT scoring more than 950 points out of a total of 1000 points.
The lowest grade is Level 10 which is for a score below 551. The ultimate aim of PGI is to propel States and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes covering all dimensions.
The PGI is expected to help States and UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritize areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level, informed the Ministry.
“A total of 7 States and UTs, Viz., Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have attained Level II (score 901-950) in 2020-21 as compared to none in 2017-18 and 4 in 2019-20. Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are the new entrants to the highest achieved level of any state so far,” the statement added.
The newly formed UT viz., Ladakh has made significant improvement in PGI from Level 8 to Level 4 in 2020-21 or improved its score by 299 points in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20 resulting into the highest ever improvement in a single year.
“PGI Scores and grades achieved by States/UTs in 2020-21 bear testimony to the efficacy of the PGI system. The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a state needs to improve. The PGI will reflect the relative performance of all the States/UTs in a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better and to adopt best practice followed by performers,” added the statement.