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WEDNESDAYDECEMBER-2018SRINAGAR TODAY : MOSTLY CLOUDY19

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News Digest Winter Vacation In Colleges Announced

‘Demonetization, GST Economic Disturbances’

Leopard kills 3-year-old boy

Indian Released From Pak Prison After 6 Years

SRINAGAR: The government on Tuesday announced winter vaca-tions for all colleges in the Kash-mir Valley from December 24 and those in Jammu from January 7.According to an order issued by the higher education department, all government degree colleges of Kashmir division shall P10

SRINAGAR: The demonetisa-tion and introduction of GST besides floods of 2014 have been described as “major economic disturbances” by the governor administration in its budget state-ment released last weekend. “The revised estimates for 2018-2019 and budget estimates for 2019-2020 is being presented in the background of last P10

JAMMU: In a second such incident this month, a leopard has killed a three-year-old boy in a remote hilly village in Mahore area of Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi dis-trict, officials said Tuesday.A massive search operation has been launched to track down the beast which had earlier struck in Kansoli village of Mahore belt on December 8 and had mauled to death 8-year-old Rehmat Ali, they said. P10

MUMBAI: Hamid Nehal Ansari, the Mumbai man who was released from a Pakistani jail after six years for alleged espionage charges, crossed over to the Indian side at the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab on Tuesday.A weary-looking bespectacled Ansari in a jacket, muffler and a pashtun cap, was welcomed by his parents, Nehal and Fauzia, who were waiting at the border along with a large contingent of India-Pakistan friendship P10

P10

We live in the world when we love it.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

Driving by the lake or through the

valley or just sitting by yourself. Tune

into Radio Mirchi

98.3 at 7PM with

Mirchi Vijdan for a JOY RIDE

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Vijdan

Khyen ChyenVisit for more details: https://khyenchyen.net/

A Kashmir Observer publication

THOUGHT FOR

ARE YOU passionate about food and want to write about it?

Write upto 1,000 words on any of the topics

1. There’s more to Kashmiri cuisine than Wazwan2. Kashmir’s Winter Food: A Lost Heritage3. Kashmir’s Street Food- A Critical View

along with their companion on 1st of January, 2019.

BEST WRITERS WILL BEINVITED FOR LUNCH BY

FOOD

Guv Reviews Valley Security At Army HeadquartersCalls For Adherence To SoP To Avoid Civilian Casualties, Collateral Damage

Barring South, Life Limps Back To Normal SRINAGAR: Kashmir limped back to normalcy on Tues-day, except for the south-ern districts, after three days of strike and protests over the killing of seven civilians in clashes that followed an encounter in Pulwama. Life has returned to normal in most

PDP MP Protests Outside Parliament SRINAGAR: Demanding an end to continuous “bloodbath” in Kashmir and positive response to dialogue offer by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan by India, Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP) Member of Parliament Mir P10

Pak Senate Passes Resolution Against Pulwama Killings

2 More Leaders Leave PDP, Number Goes To 8 Peer Mohammad Hussain, Basharat Bukhari To Join NC Today

Withdrawing Subsidy On Sugar Anti-Poor: Farooq

SRINAGAR: National Con-ference president and Member Parliament Fa-rooq Abdullah on Tuesday censured the incumbent governor administration’s move to end disburse-ment of subsidized sugar to state’s poor consumers.

The statement by Fa-rooq comes couple of days reports that no budgetary provisions have been kept for purchase of sugar by the Department of P10

Governors Rule V/s Presidents RulePresident's Rule refers to a state in India coming under the direct rule of the Presi-dent of India (indirectly the PM and Union Cabinet). This happens when P10

FOOD ADULTERATION

HC Seeks Response To Govt’s Report Observer New Service

SRINAGAR: The J&K high court on Tuesday asked amicus curie to point out deficiencies in the status report filed government with regard to the implemen-tation of the food safety act and prevent adulteration of food in Jammu and Kashmir.

As the hearing of the PIL started, Amicus curie submit-ted before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar that urgent attention needed to be attracted toward the PIL and it has to be taken on fast track basis, so that general public was prevented from consum-ing adulterated food.

He said that an IAS P10

Observer News Service

JAMMU: In the aftermath of the recent killing of seven civilians after a gunfight in Pulwama, Governor Satya Pal Malik un-dertook a detailed review of

various security related issues at the Headquarters of Northern Army Command in Udhampur on Tuesday.

He reiterated need to strict adherence to Standard Operat-ing Procedures (SOPs) by Army

and all other government forces to avoid incidents of civilian ca-sualties and collateral damages, an official spokesman said.

“Governor reviewed the latest security scenario in J&K includ-ing details of the P10

SRINAGAR: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday expelled two se-nior leaders including a for-mer minister from the basic membership of the PDP for “anti-party activities”

With them, the number of those who quit the party to eight since the PDP-BJP gov-ernment fell in June this year.

Syed Basharat Bukhari, who served as law and reve-nue ministers during the PDP-BJP regime, and Peer Muham-mad Hussain, vice chairman of the J&K Waqf, are tipped to join the National Conference (NC) on Wednesday.

Bukhari was a two-time

MLA from north Kashmir’s Sangrama constituency. Both the leaders were close associ-ate of PDP patron Mufti Mu-hammad Sayeed in the past.

“I have resigned from the PDP long back when I saw political sycophants taking over the charge and seniors not heard by the top brass of the party. Ms. Mehbooba Mufti tried to contact P10

Press Trust of India

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Senate or upper house on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution con-demning the violence in Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday that resulted in the death of seven civilians.

The resolution moved by Pakistan People's Party leader Sherry Rehman also reiterated Pakistan's commitment to continue its "moral and diplomatic support" to the Kashmiris,

Radio Pakistan reported.It also asked the govern-

ment to implement earlier resolutions passed by the Senate seeking the appoint-ment of Special Envoys to raise the Kashmir issue at all international fora.

Separately, President Arif Alvi said on Tuesday that "Jammu & Kashmir is an un-finished agenda of partition and Pakistan will continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to the legitimate struggle" of the Kashmiris. P10

Warming Leads To Water Shortage In Himalayas: StudyPress Trust of India

WASHINGTON: Climate change is driving glaciers in the Hima-layas to melt more rapidly than at any point in the last 10,000 years, and could soon cause water supply shortage in parts of India, Pakistan, and Nepal, a study has warned.

Researchers from Ohio State University in the US showed that climate change could have dev-astating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes moun-tains and the Tibetan plateau.

"By 2100, the best case scenario is that half of the ice will disap-

pear. Worst-case scenario: two-thirds of it will. And you've got all

those people depending on the glacier for water," said P10

BY 2100, THE BEST case scenario is that half of the ice will disappear. Worst-case scenario: two-thirds of it will. And you've got all those people depending on the glacier for water.”

25000 CRPF Men On Poll Duty Retained SRINAGAR: The Home Minis-try on Tuesday issued an order retaining around 25,000 out of 40,000 Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel, who had been deployed for the Am-arnath Yatra and local P10

UN Passes Right To Self Determination Resolution Agencies

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly has passed a Pakistan-sponsored resolution reaffirming people’s right to self-determination and calling on coun-tries to immediately cease their foreign P10

Governor Rule Ends TodaySRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir will come under President’s Rule on December 20 after the Union Cabinet cleared the proc-lamation last night. The six-month Governor’s Rule comes to an end on December 19.

Following recommendation by Governor Satya Pal Malik, the Central Government P10

APART FROM THE POWERS of legislation, major financial powers will also shift to the Parliament, official sources said, pointing out that it was in this context that the Governor had approved the State budget for financial year 2019-20.

DISCLAIMER: Kashmir Observer maKes every effOrt tO ensure that the infOrmatiOn carried in display/ classified advertisements, appearing in the newspaper is cOrrect. hOwever the newspaper taKes nO respOnsibility nOr dOes it necessarily endOrse the cOntents Of these adverts. the readers are therefOre requested tO verify the cOntents befOre acting thereupOn. MAnAgEMEnt

CALL +91-194 2502327To place an advertisement

Wednesday| 19-12-2018Monday - Saturday (9am - 6pm)No 1- Dal Lake Boulevard Srinagar, 190001, Kashmir

bazar Observer

RN ANG Rz ANG

mq bud

1 OFFICE OF THE

EXECUTIVE ENGINEER PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING DIVISION, PULWAMA email : [email protected]

از دفتر ایکزیکیٹیو انجینئر پی۔ایچ۔ای۔ ڈویژن پلوامہ

NOTICE INVITING TENDER

E-NIT S. No. 07/PHEP of 2018-19 (Short) For & on behalf of the Governor of J&K state Short e–tenders in single cover system are

invited on Item Rate Basis from Registered PWD Contractors/ un-employed Degree/Diploma

holder Engineers (who are registered under Self Help Groups) whose registration cards are valid

in terms of standing rules for the following work: -

S. No Name of work

Estimated Cost

(`in lacs) EMD

(in Rs) Cost of TD (in

Rs) Time for

completion Class of Contract Programme

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

1 Construction of elevated PST at Kakapora for WSS Aug. Kakapora.

34.13 68260 3000 60 days AAY & BEE Languishing

Programme (JKIDFC Ltd) 2

Construction of chain link fencing around various structures for WSS Adipora Trichal.

2.09 2090 200 25 days SHG

3 L/F of supply main/ submain to Reshipora Uller and New Colony WSS Reshipora Uller

1.36 2720 100 25 days DEE NABARD

Position of Funds: Shall be demanded Position of AAA/TS: Accorded

The NIT consisting of qualifying information, eligibility criteria, bill of quantities (BOQ), terms and conditions of contract can be seen/downloaded from the departmental web site (jktenders.gov.in) as per the dates shown below:-

S. No. Description Date Time DD MM YYYY 1 Publishing date of NIT 15 12 2018 1100 Hrs.

2 Download start date 15 12 2018 1100 Hrs.

3 Bid submission start date 15 12 2018 1100 Hrs.

4 Bid submission end date 29 12 2018 1600 Hrs.

5 Bid opening date 31 12 2018 1400 Hrs.

Bidders are advised to download bid submission manual from the download bid submission. To participate in bidding process bidders, must get digital signature certificate (DSC) as per

information technology-2000 bidders can get digital certificate from approved option as well as from “Bidders Manual Kit” on website (jktenders.gov.in)to acquaint vendors.

The bidders have to submit their bids online in electronic format with digital signature. Bids must be accompanied by bid security deposit & cost of tender document as specified in

column (4&5) of the above table. Bid security will be in the shape of CDR/FDR pledged in favour of Executive Engineer, PHE Division Pulwama and the cost of tender document shall be deposited in the Treasury under MH 0215 PHE in favour of Executive Engineer PHE Division Pulwama. (Name of work to be mentioned on the Treasury Challan / Receipt)

2

Bidders must ensure to upload their bids in SINGLE COVER containing documents as under: - i) Scanned copies of Treasury Challan/Receipt and Earnest Money Deposit CDR/FDR. ii) Rates submitted by the bidders in the BOQ.

Besides above the bidder should also upload the following documents in “My Document” area required under “Other Important Documents” (OID) i) Scanned copy of Valid Registration Card. ii) Scanned copy of GSTIN, PAN Registration. iii) Scanned copy of Labour Registration iv) Scanned copy of undertaking for not subletting the work (mention the name of work)

(Applicable for Self Help Groups only) Bidders must ensure to upload scanned copy of all necessary documents in terms of soft copies

with the technical bid and no documents in terms of hard copies shall be entertained. However, in case of any clarification the bidders shall have to produce original documents in support of soft copies if need arises.

The original instrument in respect of Treasury Receipt, EMD and relevant attested copies of Technical Bid Documents as specified above must be submitted by Lowest Bidder (L1) to Executive Engineer, PHE Division Pulwama by hand or by speed/registered post before the allotting of work or as and when demanded. If the bidder fails to produce the same within the prescribed time period, he will be debarred from taking part in tendering process in this division for at least one year.

No financial bid will be accepted in physical form. The bid shall be deposit in electronic format only on the web site of(jktenders.gov.in) till the end

date mentioned in bid submission. Self Help Group shall not sublet the works allotted to them under any circumstances. If at any

stage it comes to the knowledge of the department that the work has been sublet by the Self Help Group, appropriate disciplinary action shall follow.

The bid(s) shall be opened online on above mentioned date or any other subsequent date in presence of the bidders who may wish to be present.

No claim shall be entertained on account of disruption of internet services being used by bidders and are advised to upload their bids well in advance to avoid any technical snags in last hours.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1- The department will not be responsible for delay in online submission due to any reason whatsoever claimed by the bidder.

2- The tenders shall remain valid for 90 days only. 3- The successful bidder shall have to arrange, construct and maintain at his own cost necessary

walkways, platform, ladders, stairways, water and other facilities of usual and suitable character for all operations of construction and inspection.

4- As soon as the contract is fixed with the successful bidder it is mandatory for him to enter into an agreement with the department. No departmental material shall be issued from stores in absence of agreement being drawn. However, non-drawl of agreement will not prevent the contract from being enforced upon him.

5- Departmental material shall be supplied departmentally; however, cement and steel of sorts shall be issued against cash payment as per the stock issue rates at the time of issuance of material.

6- The earnest money shall be forfeited if: - a) Any bidder withdraws his bid during the period of bid validity or makes any modification

in terms and conditions of the bid. b) The Successful contractor fails to execute an agreement within 10 days after fixation of

contract. c) The successful bidder fails to start the work within one week from date of fixation of

contract. 7- Below quoted rate tenders for any item(s) as per SSR 2012 shall not be entertained and be

rejected out rightly 8- The tender opening authority reserves the right to accept/reject any or all bids without assigning

any reason thereof. 9- Watch and ward of departmental material issued for the works shall be exclusively the

responsibility of the successful contractor/ bidder and in the event of any loss / theft of the material the same shall be responsibility of the bidder, the cost thereof shall be recovered @ double the stock issue rates.

NO: PHEP/___________Dated:-_____________ Sd/-

Executive Engineer,DIPK-14141/18 PHE. Divn. Pulwama

Office of the TehsiLdar Kawarhama Executive Magistrate

Class 1st / Assistant Collector 1st Class

AuCtiON NOtiCE

Subject: - Auction of felled down chinar Branches at village ussan Bangil tehsil Kawarhama.

this office is going to conduct the Auction of felled down Chinar Branches at villages ussan Bangil, tehsil Kawarhama District Baramulla on 20-12-2018 thursday. it is pertinent to mentioned here that the buyer shall have to collect/ lift the walnut trees from the locations of the village mentioned above at their own cost in time bound limit.

in case of any query contact through email/ phone numbers 9906454273/ 9149531081 , [email protected]

. No: - Sd/-Tehsildar KawarhamaAssistant collector 1SI class

zRGR KzR

2,52,140

28/12/2018

Kamran Ali Bhat ( 22 Yrs) S/o Ali Mohammad Bhat R/o Naraspora tehsil & District Budgam

(Applicant) V/S

1. Mohammad Bakir Bhat S/O Late Ali Mohammad Bhat 2. Kulsuma Bano W/O Mohammad Bakir Bhat 3. Khatoon Bano Widow Of Late Ali Mohammad Bhat 4. Asif Ali Bhat S/O Late Ali Mohammad Bhat 5. Rubeena Akhtar D/O Late Ali Mohammad Bhat All Residents Of Naraspora tehsil & District Budgam 6. Public At Large (Non-Applicant)

SNt BuD

The Jammu And Kashmir State Board Of School Education,

sub Office baramullathe candidates whose photograph is published in this notice is claiming to have lost the original marks certificate of 10th under Below mentioned particulars Mohd Yousaf Ganie Father's Name Khazir Mohd Ganie Mother's Name Mukhte Begum Roll No 323405 Session / Year: July 1998 Now the candidate has applied for Duplicate Marks Card. Anybody (if) having any objection may file the some before undersigned with (07) Seven days from the date of publication of this notice. Besides, the original marks card is teated as cancelled.

Sd/ Assistant Secretary Sub Office Baramulla AMN SPR

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER

BUDGAM KASHMIR NOtiCE

Whereas an application has been recieved from one.Shri : Showkat Ahmad BhatS/o: Mohammad Akber BhatR/o: Warapora Budgam owner of vehicle bearing Registration No: JK04C-7883 for cancellation of hire purchase agreement with M/S J&K Bank B/u Nasrullahpora Budgam.Now therefore it is notified for the information of the general public that objections if any to the proposed cancellation of hire purchase Agreement shall be filed in writing in the office of the Assistant Regional transport office ARtO Budgam within a period of 12 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper

No. ARtO/ BuDGAM.10637 Dated 15-12-2018

Assistant Regional Transport officerBudgam Kashmir


BUDGAM KASHMIR NOtiCE

Whereas an application has been recieved from one. Shri : Javed Ahmad DarS/o: Ghulam Ahmad Dar R/o: Razven Budgam owner of vehicle bearing Registration No: JK04D-6312 for cancellation of hire purchase agreement with M/S J&K State Co-Operative Bank B/u Budgam . Now therefore it is notified for the information of the general public that objections if any to the proposed cancellation of hire purchase Agreement shall be filed in writing in the office of the Assistant Regional transport office ARtO Budgam within a period of 12 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper . No. ARtO/ BuDGAM.10646 Dated 18-12-2018



BUDGAM KASHMIRWhere as a joint applica-tion has been recieved from owner. Shri : Mohd Ramzan Dar S/o: Gh Mohd DarR/o: Humhama Budgam as transferor) & Shri. Ali

Mohammad Rather S/o Mohammad Qasim Rather R/o ichigam Budgam. Now it is therefore notified for general information that objections, if any to the proposed transfer of the said route permit/vehicle shall be filed in writing in the office of the Assistant Regional transport office ARtO Budgam within a period of 07 days from the date of publication of this notice in the daily newspaper . No. ARtO/ BuDGAM. 10647 Dated 18/12/2018


MQ BuD

MQ BuD

MQ BuD

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Wednesday | 19-12-2018 03Srinagar Observer

From KO Archives

DIAL-EMMA• TRAFFIC POLICE : 9419993745, 01998-266686• PCR: 0194-2452092,2455883• PDD: 0194-2450213• FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES : 2479488,2452222,2452155• CAPD: 18001807011• SMC HEALTH OFFICER: 9469409081

AIRPORTS

SHIEK UL ALAM AIRPORT: 01942303311

RAILWAYS• SRINAGAR: 0194-2103259• ANANTNAG: 01932-228243• BARAMULLA: 0194-102029• BIJBHERA: 01932-228243• PAMPORE: 01933-294132• PATTAN: 01954-293507• QAZIGUND: 01951-296153

HIGHWAY STATUS• Srinagar-Jammu highway --- (Open)• Mughal Road - (Closed)• Srinagar- Leh- (Closed)

HIJRI CALENDAR 11 RABI-UL-SANI 1440PRAYERS

• FAJR---6: 02• ZUHR---12: 27• ASR---3:48• Magrib—5:29• ISHA---6:54

This Day in History• 1448 - Pope Nicholas V appoints Rudolf of Diepholt, Bishop of

Utrecht, as cardinal. • 1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving

Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. Eventually settle in Malta, become known as the Knights of Malta.

• 1585 - English fleet & Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, reach Vlissingen.

• 1626 - Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Prince of Transylvania Gabor Bethlen sign Peace of Pressburg (Bratislava).

• 1661 - Corporation Act enforced in England. • 1669 - 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for

insurrection & sentenced to flogging, branding & slavery. • 1688 - Prince William of Orange’s troops arrive in London. • 1694 -Frederik van Brandenburg flees Schweiben • 1699 - Russian Tsar Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year

changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1. • 1780 - Britain declares war on Holland. • 1790 - 1st successful US cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI). • 1830 - Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia

recognize Belgium. • 1860 - South Carolina secedes from the Union (US Civil War). • 1879 - Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent

light at Menlo Park. • 1880 - Battle at Bronker’sSpruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten. • 1892 - Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse, NY. • 1900 -Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited

by spacecraft). • 1915 - Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia • 1917 -Cheka formed - Soviet state security force and forerunner to

the KGB, under Felix Dzerzhinsky after decree by Lenin. • 1922 - 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics

(USSR). • 1924 - Adolf Hitler freed from jail early. • 1933 - Bolivia & Paraguay sign cease fire

No need to talk to Hurriyat: Abdullah OBSERVER NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI: Terming Hurriyat Conference leaders as black crows, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Fa-rooq Abdullah today said there was no need to talk to the conglomerate as they would only toe the line fed from across the border. I welcome the extention of cease-fire by the government but that does not mean that we will remain blind-folded towards the civilian killings by militants, Abdullah said addressing the Fakhr-e-Kashmir (pride of Kashmir) function here or-ganized in memory of veteran Kashmir leader Mirza Afzal Beigh. Taking a dig at Hurriyat leaders, Abdul-lah said these peo¬ple are like black crows, no matter how much detergent you apply, they will remain like that hinting that these leaders wanted only Pakistan and nothing else. If the centre feels that it should ini-tiate talks with Hurriyat Conference, I will not create any hindrance. Bat for God sake one should under-stand that talking to them means talking to Pakistan, the chief minister said. He said he was not averse to talking to Pakistan but let them first stop killings of the inno¬cent in our state. About Pakistan's decision to reduce the troops at the line of Control (LoC), the chief minister advised the audience to take it with a pinch of salt as history is witness when we were initi¬ating friendship in Lahore, Islamabad was push-ing its troops and stooges in Kargil.

Describing the centre's extention of cease-fire as a bold ini¬tiative, Abdullah said this is to tell world that India has always adopted the path of nonviolence and will stick to it. Farooq,Centre’s Surrogate

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) chairman,Prof Ab¬dul Ghani Bhat, Thursday described the conglomerate as the heartbeat of the people. In an oblique reference to the chief min¬ister, Dr Farooq Abdullah, |who described the Hurriyat lead¬ers as 'black crows', Prof Bhat said it (APHC) would not like to represent the interests of government of India as a surrogate of the centre.

(KASHMIR OBSERVER, 19 DECEMBER, 2000)

WASHER MEN CLEANING THE CLOTHES ON THE BANKS OF RIVER JHELUM. The river has been polluted as people throw litter into it and wash clothes near its banks

(Picture by Abid Bhat)


Srinagar: Hundreds of people Tuesday offered the in absentia funeral prayers in different parts of Srinagar city for the seven civil-ians and three militants killed on Saturday in Sirnoo village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) had appealed people to offer fu-neral prayers in absentia for the civilians and 3 militants after af-ternoon prayers on Tuesday.

The in absentia funeral prayers were offered at Masjid Hamzah (RA) Amira Kadal Srinagar as well as outside the Jamia Masjid at Nowhatta. A number of activists from Tehreek-e-Hurriyat and All Parties Hurriyat Conference par-ticipated in these prayers. The ac-tivists were also joined by the lo-cal people in the funeral prayers.

Shortly after the culmination of funeral prayers, people raised pro-freedom slogans and they also demanded end to bloodshed in Kashmir. On December 15 seven civilians, three militants and an army man were killed in gunfight and clashes in Sirno Pulwam.

On Monday protests were wit-nessed in different parts of Kash-mir while women also took to streets to denounce the civilian killings. The JRL had given three day long shutdown call and also asked the people to march to protest outside the Army head-quarter at Badamibagh. However the authorities had placed severe restrictions to foil the march and also detained separatist leaders including JKLF chairman, Yaseen Malik, and Hurriyat Chairman, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq. The Hurri-

yat also said that the government forces are committing excesses on people and have resorted to grave human rights violations in Kashmir region.

Earlier the slain civilians who were killed in Pulwama were identified as Tawseef Ahmad of Urchersoo, Liyaqat Dar of Pari-gam, Suhail Ahmad of Ballow, Shahbaaz of Monghama, Pul-wama, Amir Ahmad Paul of Ash-minder, Murtaza Bashir and Abid Hussain Lone of Kareemabad, an MBA pass out from Indonesia.

In Absentia Funeral Prayers Held For Pulwama Civilians, Militants


Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik was arrested on Tuesday shortly after being released on bail, said a spokesman of the out-fit. He said Malik, who was arrested during a protest on Monday at Budshah Chowk,

was today re-arrested after being released on bail.

The spokesman said that Malik, who was lodged in po-lice station Kothibagh, along with seven JKLF leaders, was today granted bail.

“Now Malik and seven oth-ers were taken to some un-known location,” the spokes-man added.

Malik Released, Re-Arrested


Srinagar: Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema chief and Hurriyat Conference chairman, Mir-waiz Muhammad Umar Fa-rooq, Tuesday paid tributes to Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA) on the occasion of saint’s Urs. Mirwaiz who wa put under house arrest from last few days has paid tributes to one of the top Islamic mis-sionary and spiritual saint say-ing he “had dedicated his life for Islam and attracted people toward the peaceful religion by spreading the true message of Islam and by playing the role of a social reformer.”

Terming him a spiritual saint who worked with dedi-cation for Islam, the Mirwaiz said Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani, popularly known as Dastgeer Sahab, Peeran-e- Peer and Gaus-u-Azam, laid stress on humanity, kindness, brotherhood and social ser-vice, for which the presented generations Muslims were in-debted to him. Stating that on one hand Dastgeer sahab with his missionary zeal and ser-mons attracted tens of thou-sands of people toward Islam

on the other hand, with “his social reforms he helped in creating a moral and just soci-ety as a result of which centu-ries after his death he was still being remembered world over and his teachings attracting all the more attention.”

Suggesting that paying trib-utes to Gaus-ul-Azam and cel-ebrating his Urs would only be meaningful when Muslims fol-

low his religious mission, the APHC Chairman said Muslim Kashmiri like the great spir-itual saint needed to believe in the oneness of the Al-mighty Allah and rededicate them-selves for the bet-

terment of Islam and Ummah and take stock of their lives.

Urging the people of Kash-mir particularly the Muslim youth, parents and family heads to come forward and shoulder responsibilities in shaping our society in accor-dance with Islamic teachings and values ,Mirwaiz appealed them for helping cleanse the Kashmiri society off social evils and un Islamic practices.

Mirwaiz Pays Tribute To Sheikh Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani (RA)


Srinagar: In a first of its kind outreach initiative, the Srinagar district administration has roped in corporate houses operating in the state for providing assistance to encourage potential of youth in sports and other activities.

The administration Tuesday roped in HDFC Bank Limited as part of the initiative with later providing 43 synthetic mats for the GINDUN Stadium at Raj Bagh here. This was the long-standing demand of some 300 students practicing and training in Taekwondo there.

The mats were handed over by

Additional Deputy Commission-er KK Sidha. Vice President HDFC Bank Limited Iftikhar Ahmad was also present on the occasion.

This is the third such initiative of the district administration. Earlier, with the support of M/S Idea Cellular Limited, assistance was provided to the Association of Deaf and Dumb for organizing their cultural events at Tagore Hall, to boost the morale of the physically challenged youth. Similarly, gas heaters were pro-vided to Abhenanda Home, school for deaf, blind and mute children, wherefrom ten stu-dents are also being sponsored for skiing course at Gulmarg.

Admin Ropes In Corporate Houses For Assistance To Sportspersons

Traders FinedObserver News Service

Srinagar: The enforcement squad of Food, Civil Supplies and Con-sumer Affairs (FCS&CA) depart-ment Monday recovered Rs 4200 fine from 11 shopkeepers for vio-lation of the Essential Commodi-ties Act, 1955. As per an official handout issued here, the market checking squad headed by Assis-tant Director Enforcement North and South zones, inspected 57 business establishments. The businesses were inspected in the areas of Shaheed Gunj, Tanki-pora, KaniKadal, Shergari, Old Secretariate, Jehangir Chowk, H S High Street, GaniKhann, Saria Bala, Mehraj Bazar, and adjoin-ing areas in the Srinagar City, where the erring traders were fined for violating the norms. Officials said that the traders have been found to be violating the norms and are overcharging from the customers here.


Srinagar: Communication and Ca-pacity Development Unit (CCDU) on Monday kick-started three-day training programme on water qual-ity monitoring for Public Health En-gineering (PHE) and Irrigation and Flood control Department (I&FC) staff here at the Institute of Engi-neers Jammu and Kashmir Centre, Sonwar Bagh. The programme was organized in collaboration with the scientists from CISR-National En-vironmental Engineering Research Institute. The main objective of the programme is to impart training to the engineers and other profession-als associated with the water quality monitoring system.

The scientists from CISR-NEERI,

Dr G S Kanade and Dr G K Khadse provided insightful ideas regarding water quality monitoring and shared their experience with professionals present including chemists, microbi-ologists and lab assistants.

The function was attended by Ab-dul Wahid, Chief Engineer PHE De-partment, Kashmir, Superintending Engineers and other concerned.

Water Quality Monitoring Training Programme Launched

Workshop On Brain Profiling OrganisedSrinagar: The State Institute of Education (SIE), Kashmir organized a three- day work-shop on ‘Brain Profiling and one to one Counselling’ here at HSS Kothibagh. The work-shop, inaugurated by JD Train-ings/Principal SIE Kashmir Mehboob Hussain, was orga-nized under Samagra Shiksha. Director School Education Kashmir Dr G N Itoo was the chief guest on the occasion.

Around 85 students from vari-ous schools of Srinagar District participated in the programme.

The audience was informed that the programme shall be carried out in all the 22 districts of State.


Srinagar: The electricity sup-ply from a transformer which was set up in Munshi Mohalla, Kawdara, in August has been snapped here . The locals have demanded relocation of an “ad-ditional” transformer, provided by PDD, from their area saying they are not in need of it.

The locals said the Power De-velopment Department (PDD) in August installed an addi-tional transformer 220 KV in the area which provided power supply for “just two days”.

They said the PDD officials disconnected power supply from this transformer “following a dis-pute between some residents.”

For the last four months, the transformer is non functional thereby leading to wastage of state resource, they said.

“We took up the matter with

DC Srinagar Abid Rashid Sahib and Chief Engineer PDD but they failed to restore power supply from the transformer,” the residents said.

“We don’t need this as we already have a 420 KV trans-former,” they said.

The locals said a complaint has also been registered in Governors Grievance cell on December 5 under compliant number 999001012188 by a resident Rashid Ahmad and the same compliant was for-warded to Chief Engineer PDD on December 14.

“Now we request the admin-istration to issue directions to the concerned authorities to shift the 220 KV transformer to some other areas which needs it so that the deserving people could avail the benefit from it during the winter,” the locals said.

Electricity Supply On New Transformer Snapped In Kawdara

NEWS Wednesday| 19-12-2018 4I r a n F M I n S y r I a

Making Sense Of The World Around U s

1979: A Pivotal Year In The Arab-Muslim World

PARIS: A series of dramatic events swept across the Arab and Muslim worlds in 1979, the aftershocks of which still reverberate today, 40

years later.

Here is an overview.On January 16, Iran’s last monarch,

the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, flees the country after months of protests against his regime.

The spiritual leader who led the up-rising from exile, Shia cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, makes a triumphant return on

February 1.The shah’s government falls 10 days

later when the army turns against him. The following day, public radio announces the fall of the monarchy and “the end of 2,500 years of despotism”.

An Islamic republic is proclaimed on April 1, its legislation based on Sharia law.

On May 5, Khomeini creates the elite Revolutionary Guards who will become the regime’s elite army.

A drop in Iran’s oil output during the revolution drives up prices, sparking an energy crisis in Western economies.

On March 26, Egyptian president An-war Sadat and Israeli prime minister Men-achem Begin sign in Washington the first ever peace treaty between the Jewish state and an Arab nation.

The accord, inked in the presence of US president Jimmy Carter, ends the state of war between the neighbours and sets the

terms for Egypt to recover in 1982 its Sinai Peninsula, which Israel invaded in 1967.

But Arab countries slam the treaty as a betrayal and break off relations with Egypt.

Sadat, also criticised at home, is assas-sinated in October 1981.

On June 16, 80 Syrian military cadets are massacred in a hail of gunfire and gre-

nades after being assembled at their acad-emy in the northern city of Aleppo.

The men are from the Alawite sect of the Shia Islam minority, as is the presi-dent Hafez al-Assad, father of the current leader, Bashar al-Assad.

The instigator of the attack is a train-ing officer from the Sunni majority, an-gered by the regime’s open favouritism towards Alawites.

The government reacts by cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood, which undertakes an armed uprising before being crushed in the central city of Hama in 1982 at a cost of between 10,000 and 40,000 lives.

On July 16, Saddam Hussein becomes Iraq’s president as one of the strongmen of the Baath Party in power since a 1968 coup.

He goes on to rule with an iron fist, drawing Iraq into a string of conflicts, in-cluding war with Iran, until he is ousted in the US-led invasion of 2003 and executed three years later.

On November 4, students seize the US embassy in Tehran, demanding the extra-dition of the shah, who is receiving medi-cal care in the United States.

Fifty-two diplomats will be held for 444 days. It leads to the rupture of relations

between Washington and Tehran, still in place today.

On November 20, more than 400 fun-damentalists storm the Holy Mosque, in Makkah, western Saudi Arabia, and take hostages from among the thousands of worshippers there.

Saudi forces launch an assault two weeks later in which at least 333 soldiers, rebels and civilians are killed.

It is the start of the rise of extremism in Saudi Arabia.

On December 27, Soviet troops in-vade Afghanistan to back its embattled communist government, leading to a nine-year occupation.

It triggers an armed resistance by Af-ghan militants backed by the United States and Saudi secret services.

US top general urges Gulf Arab unity to counter Iran

Wealthy Saudi national Osama bin Laden plays a key role, recruiting mostly Arab volunteers to the insurgency and go-ing on to inspire a worldwide holy war, as the head of Al-Qaeda.

Agencies

Lok Sabha Adjourns For The Day Amid Sloganeering On Rafale, CauveryPress TrusT Of IndIa

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till noon and later for the day on Tuesday following vociferous protests by various parties over Rafale deal, construction of a dam across Cauv-ery river and other issues.

As soon as the House met, members from the AIADMK, the TDP and the Con-gress trooped into the Well, with many of them displaying placards, and sought to raise various issues.

The Congress raised the Rafale issue and some party members displayed plac-ards demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the fighter jet deal.

Many members from the BJP shouted slogans against the Congress and demand-ed an apology from Congress president Rahul Gandhi on the Rafale issue. Some members stood in the aisle while others were at their seats.

The AIADMK members were protest-ing against construction of a dam across Cauvery river while those from the

TDP were demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh.

There were more than 30 members from

the AIADMK, the TDP and the Congress in the Well during the Question Hour.

Only one question related to produc-

tion of garlic was taken up. Even as Agri-culture Minister Radha Mohan Singh was responding to supplementary questions, BJP members continued sloganeering on the Rafale issue.

Amid the ruckus, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan adjourned the House till noon. Home Minister Rajnath Singh was present in the House.

When the House reassembled, slogan-eering continued. Members from AIADMK, Congress and TDP trooped into the well of the House. The BJP members continued to raise slogans against Mr. Gandhi.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan made a fervent appeal to the members to allow the House to function. "This is prob-ably the last session where we can have meaningful discussion before the general elections... so please... let's do our re-sponsibility," pleaded the Speaker before the agitating members. But her efforts went in vain and she adjourned the lower House for the day.

Won’t let Modi sleep until all farms loans are waived: Rahul GandhiNEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he would not let Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi sleep until all farms loans were waived.

The government had turned a blind eye to “loans given to 15 top in-dustrialists of the country, including Reliance Group chairman Anil Am-bani,” but made no effort to alleviate the woes of farmers in the last four years, he said.

“We promised to waive loans in 10 days. In two States, we did it in six hours,” Mr. Gandhi told reporters

outside the Parliament hall.He alleged that the "loans of

friends of Mr. Modi and BJP presi-dent Amit Shah" had been waived. About Rs. 3.5 lakh crore was waived for 15 corporates, including for Mr. Anil Ambani. Poor people and small shopkeepers were on one side and the group of industrialists on the other. The Congress and all other Opposi-tion parties would stand by the poor and others, he said.

Terming demonetisation the world’s biggest scam, he accused the government of having stolen from the

public, shopkeepers and farmers.

'More typos coming now'“There will be many more typos

coming now,” he said when asked about the government’s claim on the “error” in the affidavit given to the Supreme Court on the Rafale issue.

“We will force a joint parliamen-tary committee on the Rafale issue. Why are they [the government and the BJP) running away from a debate in Parliament,” he said.

PTI

Sajjan resigns from Cong primary membership, writes to RahulNEW DELHI: Congress veteran Sajjan Kumar has resigned from the primary membership of the party, citing his conviction in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, sources in the party said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Delhi High Court convicted Kumar for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and sentenced him to imprisonment for life.

In a letter to Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Kumar, a former MP, said his resignation should be considered with immediate effect, the sources said.

“I tender my resignation with immediate effect from the primary membership of the Indian Na-

tional Congress in the wake of the judgement of the hon’be high court of Delhi against me,” he said in the letter to Mr. Gandhi.

An aide of Kumar said he did not want the party to face any embarrassment and decided to resign from Congress soon after the Delhi High Court pro-nounced its judgement in the case.

The aide also clarified that 73-year-old Kumar, a three-time MP, does not have a Twitter account and comments attributed to him in the social media platform were not made by him.

PTI

Only one question related to

production of garlic was taken up. Even as agriculture Minister radha Mohan Singh was responding to supplementary questions, BJP members continued sloganeering on the rafale issue.

Working To Bring 99% Things In Sub-18% GST Slab: ModiPress TrusT Of IndIa

NEW DELHI: Indicating that fur-ther simplification of the Goods and Services Tax is on the anvil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government wants to ensure that '99 percent things' at-tract sub-18 per cent GST slab.

Before implementation of the GST, registered enterprises only numbered 65 lakh, which has now risen by 55 lakh, Modi said, address-ing the Republic Summit here.

"Today, the GST system has been established to a large extent and we are working towards a position where 99 per cent things will attract the sub-18 per cent GST slab," Modi said.

Modi indicated that the 28 percent slab of GST would only be restricted to a few select items, such as luxury goods.

The Prime Minister said the effort will be to ensure that 99 per cent of all items, including almost all items used by the com-

mon man, would be kept at a GST slab of 18 per cent or less.

"We are of the opinion of making GST as smooth as pos-sible for the enterprises," he said.

"In earlier days, the GST was framed according to the existing VAT or excise tax structures ex-ercised in those respective states. (With) the discussions held from time to time, the tax system is getting improved," Modi said.

"The country was demanding

GST for decades. I am pleased to say that GST implementation has removed contradictions in the trade market and efficiency of system is improving. The econo-my is also getting transparent," Modi said.

Even a small tax reform in developed countries is not easy, he said.

Modi also spoke of his gov-ernment's commitment to root out corruption.

BjP declares rs 1,000 Cr IncomeHere are details of other partiesPress TrusT Of IndIa

New Delhi: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declared a total income of more than Rs 1,000 crore in 2017-18 spending over Rs 750 crore in the year.

The income and expendi-ture of the Congress party is not known as the party is yet to submit its audited reports to the Election Commission.

According to a report by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released on Monday, the BJP's total income for 2017-18 stood at Rs 1,027.339 crore followed by the Communist Party of India-Marx-ist (CPI-M) at Rs 104.847 crore.

The Mayawati-led BSP de-clared a total income of Rs 51.694 crore in the year.

The BJP's income for the year came down by nearly Rs 7

crore as compared to Rs 1,034.27 crore total income it had de-clared in 2016-17.

On the expenditure front, the BJP spent Rs 758.47 crore in the year, followed by the CPI-M at Rs 83.482 crore and the BSP which spent Rs 14.78 crore.

The Sharad Pawar-led Na-tionalist Congress Party (NCP) declared a total income of Rs 8.15 crore but spent Rs 8.84 crore, an excess of Rs 69 lakh over what it earned during the year.

Trinamool Congress de-clared a total income of Rs 5.167 crore while the Communist Par-ty of India (CPI)'s total income was Rs 1.55 crore.

The Congress, which in 2016-17 earned Rs 225.36 crore, is yet to submit its copy of Income Tax returns for the year.

The due date for submission of annual audited accounts for the parties was October 30.

Three-year-old raped in Delhi by security guardNEW DELHI: On the sixth anniversary of the brutal rape on a Delhi bus, a three-year-old Indian girl was raped by her neighbor in Delhi’s Bindapur, BBC News reported.

The accused – a 40-year-old security guard who worked in the building where the girl lived – reportedly lured the child with sweets and Abducted her from outside her residence.

The minor was found by her father after she did not return home for a few hours on Sunday afternoon. He found her uncon-scious and bleeding profusely. After he called the police, she was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery.

Delhi Women’s Commissioner Swati Maliwal said the incident “let down” the bus rape victim.

Times of India reported that people in the area found and attacked the suspect after finding out about the incident. Police arrested him after his injuries were treated and have registered a case under the Pro-tection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, which means the suspect could see the death penalty.

Wednesday | 19-12-2018 05State


New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Government of India (GoI) and the prison authorities on a plea by Kashmiri separat-ist Aasiya Andrabi, arrested in a case of allegedly waging war against India with support from Pakistan, challenging her soli-tary confinement. Besides An-drabi, chief of the banned outfit Dukhtaran-e-Milat, her associ-ates Sofi Fehmeeda and Nahida Nasreen have also approached the high court for being kept in solitary confinement and alleg-edly being denied basic human rights. The three accused, arrest-ed earlier this year, are currently lodged in Tihar jail here under judicial custody.

Justice Najmi Waziri sought re-sponse of the Union Home Min-istry and the Delhi government through additional inspector gen-eral (prisons) on the petition and listed the matter for further hear-ing on January 15. In the petition filed through advocates Dhruv Tamta and Shariq Iqbal, the three women accused claimed that they were being denied basic hu-man rights including the right to medical treatment and were re-fused medicines and spectacles.

They sought that they be im-mediately shifted from solitary confinement to ordinary cells and be provided with proper food and medical relief.

They also sought direction to the jail authorities to allow them to have access to all the facilities which are available to other un-

der trial prisoners.Andrabi and the two other ac-

cused have been chargesheeted by the NIA for allegedly "wag-ing war" against the country by spreading hate speeches using Internet platforms and collecting funds for terror activities.

In its charge sheet, NIA had claimed that a probe revealed that the accused were running a concerted campaign to elicit sup-port from the neighbouring coun-try and accused them of being involved in conspiracy and acts to "severely destabilize the sover-eignty and integrity of India".

The case was registered against the three women in April this year. Andrabi was earlier in a prison in Srinagar after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court cancelled her bail last month.

The NIA, on directions of the Union Home Ministry, regis-tered a case against them as well as the organisation, which is banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, in April this year. According to the FIR, the "central govern-ment has received information that Andrabi, Fehmeeda and Nasreen were actively running a terrorist organisation named as 'Dukhtaran-E-Millat' (DEM) which is proscribed under the First Schedule to the UAPA".

The agency also said in the FIR that Andrabi and her associ-ates had allegedly spoken, writ-ten and also published "visible representations that bring into hatred and contempt apart from exciting disaffection towards the Government of India".

HC Seeks Reply From GoI On Asiya’s Solitary Confinement

Man-Animal Conflicts Spike In State


Srinagar: Pointing to the in-crease in the man-animal con-flicts in the state, a headless body of a three-year-old boy in Jammu which was taken away from his home by a leopard was handed over to his parents on Tuesday, wildlife officials said.

Wasim Akram was in the kitchen with his mother when the animal snuck inside, pounced on the child and took him deep into the woods, of-ficials said. Local officials have sought "elimination orders" from the state government.

It was the third such killing blamed on the leopard in the last two months, including an eight-year-old boy mauled to death in the area on December 7. In the meantime, a team of wildlife of-ficials equipped with tranquilis-er guns have been scouring the area to spot the animal.

"The leopard was spotted this morning but we could not trap it," Jammu regional wildlife warden Tahir Ahmad Shawl said.

Wildlife authorities have also issued advice for people in the area to stay safe from animal attacks. "This is a forested area and humans have entered into their (animals') habitat and not the other way round. Therefore these incidents happen," Shawl said. Official estimates suggest there are between 12,000 and 14,000 leopards in India. An esti-mated 431 leopards were killed in 2017, according to govern-ment figures. Most were killed by poachers for their hides and body parts. Urban expansion has reduced their numbers as forest habitats shrink, bringing them into closer contact -- and conflict -- with humans. There are no figures on the number of humans killed by leopards, but experts say there are hundreds of deaths each year.


Srinagar: Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) President, Er Rasheed, on Tuesday said that the Gov-ernor, Satya Pal Malik, should take the responsibility for the civilian killings in Pulwama.

Cautioning New Delhi about “misleading” world commu-nity over killings and use of excesses by forces in Kash-mir, Er Rasheed said that New Delhi should not “forget that in the era of Information tech-nology it cannot hide its bru-talities towards Kashmiris.” He said this while addressing a presser in Srinagar, after be-ing released from detention.

Rasheed said that the way Army chief, Bipin Rawat, “has been threatening Kashmiris and trying to ‘abuse’ everyone who dares to speak against ‘barbarism’, he is simply low-ering his stature and it would be good in the interests of army as an institution to feel ashamed for the killings rath-er finding excuses.”

“By asking Kashmiris not to drag army into politics Gen-eral Bipin Rawat is forgetting the Himalayan fact that it is not Kashmiris but New Delhi which has been dragging army into politics by trying to give a military solution to the seven-ty years long pending political dispute,” Rasheed said.

He said that the call given by various political parties to hold a “sit-in” outside Army Headquarters at Badami Bagh was an “absolutely justified and most civilized way to protest against the Pulwama killings.” “Rawat should tell us that was he expecting Kash-miris to shower flowers on those who killed unarmed ci-

vilians in Pulwama,” Rasheed said, adding that “it was strange that on one hand from Bipin Rawat to Home Minis-ter and Satya Pal Malik to K Vijay Kumar everyone is jus-tifying the killings by putting the blame on the deceased and calling every stone pel-ter OGW of militants but on

the other had each of them is condemning the incident ask-ing for inquiries and showing sympathy with the families of those killed in Pulwama.”

“The fake inquiries and con-dolences are itself confession of guilt,” Rasheed said.

He said K. Vijay Kumar, an advisor who is incharge of law and order, needs to be told that he is not dealing with “sandalwood smugglers” and there are no “Veerappans” in Kashmir, whom he should eliminate easily. Justifying the protest calls and shutdowns by the Joint Resistance Lead-ership (JRL), Rasheed “criti-cized those forces who are always denouncing pro-resis-tance groups.”

“Those who have no busi-ness but to accuse JRL and others of hitting to streets and calling strikes, should come out with alternative plans and make people follow them rather create unnecessary confusions.”

Governor Must Take Responsibility of Pulwama Civilian Killings: Er Rasheed


Jammu: The BJP on Tuesday criti-cised People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) for levelling “baseless allega-tions” against governor adminis-tration in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Kashmir based so-called main-stream political parties, particularly PDP and NC, after miserably failing to convince people particularly of Kash-mir on the poll boycott in civic bod-ies elections, have started criticising governor administration on baseless and misleading allegations”, state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ravin-der Raina told reporters here. Raina said these parties are frustrated as the adminstration was successful in conducting the peaceful polls to civic bodies and panchayats in spite of their boycott appeals. He lauded the role of the Governor for working tirelessly and bringing in changes in law and legislations as also in administration to make it more people friendly and for resolving long pending problems

and issues of the masses while at the same time assuring effective justice and transparency in public institutions.

“The people had high expec-tations from the administration which had been met efficiently”, Raina said. BJP state chief said PDP is a sinking ship which is being de-serted even by persons who built it, largely because of undemocratic way in which it is being run.

“It (PDP) is fast losing its political grip and confidence of its core sup-porters are also shaken and eroded considerably. In coming times in utter frustration to find political space which is fast shrinking the party may drift more towards sepa-ratists”, he added. The major prob-lem with PDP is lack of charismatic leadership like late Mufti Mohd Sayeed who held party together.

“Mehbooba Mufti saying now that alliance with BJP was a mistake must remember that it was done by Mufti Sahib and the alliance failed largely because of her style of working and not allowing space to

alliance partner”, he added.He further noted that National

Conference is doing no better as it has only one agenda of coming to power by hook or crook and in that direction it is coining false state-ments and inciting and misleading people particularly the youth.

“National Conference is respon-sible for eroding of political space in Kashmir and abject surrender to the dictates of Hurriyat and other separatists”, he added.

BJP leader said that youth of Kashmir is being misguided on one hand by militants and sepa-ratists of indulging in stone pelt-ing and attacking security forces engaged in encounters and on other hand by political parties who are using them as tools for their political gains.

“This leads to unfortunate situa-tion where security forces have to use force to stop them which may take unintended turn”, he said.

He asked youth to look for their own welfare and not to listen to enemies of nation and humanity.

PDP, NC Levelling Baseless Allegations Against Guv Administration: BJP


Jammu:Advisor to Governor, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Tuesday asked the State Board of School Education (BOSE) to frame the curriculum in tune with the mar-ket trends. He said this while chairing a meeting to review the functioning of with special em-phasis on framing of curriculum and content of textbooks pub-lished by it. The meeting was at-

tended by Chairperson JKBOSE Prof Veena Pandita, Secretary School Education Ajit Kumar Sahu, Director School Education Depart-ment Jammu Anuradha Gupta, Secretary JKBOSE Riyaz Ahmad, State Project Director Samagra Shiksha Tufail Matto, CEO Jammu J K Sudan, Members of Academic Committee Prof. Rakesh Gupta, Shafqat Chib, Rajni Kotwal, and other senior officers of School Education and JKBOSE.

The meeting was informed that the JKBOSE has introduced regional languages viz Dogri, Gojri, Pahari, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Bhoti as optional subjects from Ist standard. Further, it was informed that JKBOSE has intro-duced various frontline subjects like Bio-Technology, Information Practices, Computer Science, Bio-Chemistry, Functional English, Applied Mathematics, Entrepre-neurship, Tour Travel and Ho-

tel Management, Microbiology, Public Administration etc at +2 level. The Advisor appreciated the initiatives taken by JKBOSE in developing the textual mate-rial as per national standards. He also highlighted the importance of Regional languages at the el-ementary and secondary level.

He directed for formulating an Academic Committee which will work for the formulation of policy regarding the regional languages at

School level and its implementa-tion in letter and spirit from class 5th onwards. He asked to include science concept and general topics in regional language books.

He also emphasized that NCERT textbooks should be made as the base for developing the textual ma-terial by JKBOSE.

Reviewing the content produced by the Board, the Advisor said the books prepared and published should be able to connect a student with latest market trends. He also directed the concerned to ensure flawless, quality and eye-catching printing of textbooks. He said that the present era being the age of computers should be introduced as one of the compulsory subjects at some stage of school level as per the convenience of the students.

Secretary School Education AK Sahu also suggested for computer-aided learning so as to acquaint the students with the basics of com-

puter language.The Advisor asked the Secretary

School Education Department to constitute an Expert Committee to look into the issues pertaining to the teaching of Mathematics and come up with a comprehensive plan of action for capacity building of the teachers.

He directed that vocational edu-cation, simple mathematics and science in place of General Mathe-matics should be an option for low

performing students at secondary and higher secondary levels. He directed Samagra Shiksha and SIE authorities to intensify teachers training on modern lines by us-ing the new methodology and lat-est technology so that the master trainers could propagate the same quality down the line. He further asked to start the exercise of tele-casting and uploading the subject based lectures of best resource per-sons on the television and website for the convenience of students.

Ganai also directed Director School Education Jammu to pro-vide Urdu teachers in District Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Ud-hampur so that students of these areas may be able to read the of-ficial language of the State.

He appreciated the Chairperson for her efforts in streamlining the curriculum and advised her to im-prove more for the benefit of the student community.

BOSE Asked To Frame Curriculum To Suit Market Trends


Jammu: Principal Secretary, Planning Development & Mon-itoring and Grievances, Rohit Kansal, Tuesday asked the of-ficers to ensure the speedy re-deressal of grievances. He said this while chairing a meeting to review the functioning of the Governor’s Grievance Cell and the “status of the complaints filed by the general public.”

The Principal Secretary sought status of complaints/grievance received by vari-ous departments including Power Development Depart-ment (PDD), Public Health Engineering (PHE), School Education Department, Higher Education Department, Jam-mu Municipality Corporation (JMC), Information Technol-ogy Department (IT), General Administrative Department (GAD)and Rural Development Department (RDD). During the meeting, Kansal was informed that the grievance web por-tal has received 20352 com-plaints/grievances regarding 250 departments. It was given out that, so far, 9601 com-plaints/grievances have been disposed-of, while 5577 are open and 5174 have been re-jected due to lack of informa-tion or authenticity.

The concerned nodal offi-cers also apprised the Principal

Secretary about various issues faced by them to redress griev-ances on time. Kansal directed for improving coordination among the departments and assured proper assistance and support for further streamlin-ing the mechanism for quality disposal of grievances.

He impressed upon the de-partmental nodal officers to redress the complaints/griev-ances within the prescribed timelines so that delivery of citizen services at the grass root level is ensured. To reach out to the people, Kansal directed for speeding up the process of disposal of pending grievances with various departments and a prompt grievance redressal mechanism so that people do not face any inconvenience.

The Principal Secretary fur-ther suggested that the internal grievance redressal mechanism should be institutionalized at the departmental level to re-spond to the urgent grievances. He said that there should be speedy and outcome-based disposal of public grievances.

Project Director, J&K Gover-nor's Grievance Cell (JKGGC), Inam-ul-Haq Siddiqui, nodal officers of PDD, PHE, School Education Department, Higher Education Department, JMC, IT Department, GAD, RDD and other officials of JKGGC attend-ed the meeting.

Need For Speedy Public Grievance Rederessal Stressed Observer News Service

Jammu: Secretary School Education, Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Tuesday stressed on the need for ensuring a student-centric learning. He issued these in-structions while chairing a meeting of the officers of Education Depart-ment to review the progress of vari-ous state and centrally sponsored projects. Director School Education Jammu Anuradha Gupta, State Proj-

ect Director Samagra Shiksha Tufail Mattoo, Director Planning School Education Department, Director Finance School Education Depart-ment, Chief Education Officer Jam-mu and other officers of the depart-ment attended the meeting.

Director School Education Kash-mir Dr G N Itoo, Chief Education officers from Kashmir and Jammu divisions participated in the meet-ing via video conferencing.

The meeting reviewed in detail the physical and financial achieve-ments of various centrally spon-sored projects. The meeting also held a threadbare discussion on the progress of Aadhar enrollment.

The Secretary School Education stressed upon the officers to speed up the process and complete the

Aadhar enrollment within the short-est period. He also took a detailed review of the education scenario in the state and said the department should identify all the shortcomings in the schools and make every pos-sible effort to rectify them.

He impressed upon the officers to make teaching-learning process more student-centric and directed adopting activity-based learning so as to ensure maximum participation

of students in the process.Sahu also stressed teacher edu-

cation and improving learning out-comes to enhance the quality of ed-ucation in all Government schools.

The Secretary directed the con-cerned officers to provide electricity, toilet and drinking water facilities in all Government schools of the State to ensure a clean and eco-friendly atmosphere to the students.

The implementation of the scheme for providing education in Madrasas/minorities, scholarships to students, mid-day meal scheme, Atal Tinkering labs, Reconciliation of previous accounts of SSA/RMSA, students exchange programme, ICT labs and sports infrastructure relat-ed issues were also discussed during the meeting.

Secy Edu Emphasises Student-Centric Learning


Jammu: A team of the Government of India (GoI) is in the state to review the work of five new medical colleg-es here. This was revealed by Advisor to Governor, K Vijay Kumar who is holding the charge of Health depart-ment, while reviewing the progress on establishments of five new Medi-cal Colleges in the state at a meeting convened, here today.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary Health & Medi-cal Education Atal Dulloo, Com-missioner Secretary R&B Khurshid Ahmed, Managing Director JKPCC M. Raju, Chief Engineer PWD, Direc-

tor Finance Health department, Di-rector (Coordination) New Medical Colleges, Principals of New Medical Colleges and other concerned senior officers. The five new medical col-leges are coming up at Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Anantnag and Baramulla.

The chair was informed that to re-view the progress on works at these colleges, a team from Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (GoI) is on state’s visit and conducting inspec-tions at these new Medical Colleges.

While reviewing the status of works initiated for the establish-ment of these new health institu-tions, the Advisor was briefed about the progress made so far with regard

to the construction of main building of college, hostels, residential quar-ters and other facilities for the stu-dents and the faculty. College wise status report of works done, to be undertaken along with the deadlines were discussed in detail. It was de-cided that all the construction works need to be executed in a speedy manner so as to ensure meeting all the deadlines finalized during the meeting. The Advisor asked for ex-pediting the works in double shift where progress is registered low. He further asked for executing the works in full swing on all five col-leges and ensure their completion as per given targets. It was informed

that the main building of these col-leges should be get ready by June 2020 in any case. With regard to the make-shift arrangements for start-ing the first batch of students in the next year, the concerned Principal Medical College apprised the meet-ing about the arrangements and oth-er necessary works including repair, renovation works that are undergo-ing and to be undertaken.

College wise makeshift arrange-ments were discussed and the ex-ecuting agencies were accordingly directed to speed up the works en-suring their completion well in time to allow the new batch to start their course at these Medical Colleges.

GoI Team In State To Inspect Work Of 5 Medical CollegesObserver News Service

Jammu: For effective regulation of traffic in the state, Transport De-partment has decided to establish full-fledged traffic planning wing in the Transport Commissioners of-fice. This was decided at a meeting chaired by Principal Secretary Ani-mal, Sheep and Transport Depart-ment Dr. Asghar Hasan Samoon, here today. The meeting was at-tended by Chief Engineer R&B Sami Arif, Additional Secretary Transport, Ashok Kumar, RTO Jammu Deep Raj, Director Finance Transport, Ma-hesh Kumar and other officers of Transport department. The meeting was also attended by RTO Kashmir

AhmudullahTak, and other ARTOs of Kashmir region through video conferencing. Dr Samoon said that the wing will make transportation policies, comprehensive planning of traffic routes and monitor traffic-related administrative plans besides compiling and analyzing transpor-tation statistics. The planning wing will also review and oversees traf-fic maintenance plans during major construction projects, implement road safety programs besides super-vises the layout/design/construc-tion/operation of parking facilities and other related tasks, he said. He impressed on the Chief Engineer R&B and Regional Transport Officers to get the construction of required

infrastructure within stipulated time besides equipping the wing with all necessary equipments and gadgets. To create awareness about the traffic safety among the masses particularly in youngsters, Transport Department has released Rs 1 lakh to each Assistant Regional transport officers, the meeting was told.

“All the stakeholders should be involved to create awareness about the traffic rules particularly on wearing helmets, use of seat belts and other safety measures. Acci-dent deaths is a matter of concern for all of us, we have to carry out detailed study on causes and adopt necessary steps for minimizing the accidents,” Samoon asserted.

Transport Deptt To Establish Traffic Planning Wing

Forest Deptt Cadre Review FinalisedJammu: Commissioner Secre-tary, Forest, Ecology & Environ-ment, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, today chaired a meeting to dis-cuss the issues related to cadre review in Forest Department. This was the second meeting convened in this regard during the past one month.

The last cadre review of IFS in J&K was carried out in 2006 and this exercise is normally to be carried out every five years.

The meeting was attended by Suresh Chug, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests/Chief Wildlife Warden J&K, SK Gupta, APCCF/ Director Social Forestry Department J&K, Vasu Yadav, Managing Director, J&K SFC, Abdul GaniHajam, CCF Cen-tral, Ramesh Kumar, Secretary Technical Forest Department, RS Bali, Director Finance Forest Department, Ram Savak, Addi-tional Secretary Forest Depart-ment, Pankaj Katoch, Additional Secretary Forest Department and representatives from State Forestry Cadre.

Fading appeal of Hindutva

The BJP had resorted to a strident hindu-tva stance in the run up to elections to five states. Ram Mandir was front and center of the BJP campaign. So much so that some

top-ranking BJP leaders wanted the case about the mandir in the Supreme Court to be expedited. Also, they were not ready to accept any other ruling ex-cept a permission to construct the mandir. What is more, they didn’t want a mosque anywhere near the Mandir. Doing so, according to Uma Bhakti will “make hindus intolerant”. No less a person than the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat petulantly sought the enactment of a law to get around the case about the Mandir in Supreme Court. he also threatened an agitation like 1992. In fact, it is wrong to talk about this campaign in past tense. The BJP is still at it and is unlikely to give up on the stance in the run up to the general election due next. The party’s ideological position, on the contrary, might become only shriller.

The BJP is certain to try every trick in its playbook to get back into political reckoning. Having miserably failed on economic and governance front, the party will return to its time-tested Hindutva agenda to fire up its support base. This includes reducing the political dis-course to gutter level. It also includes polarization on a mass scale: deploying wedge issues and appealing to bas-est instincts of the people to try to hone a friendly con-stituency into shape. Also, the party might also resort to populist economic measures to drum up support. The ap-pointment as RBI Governor of a bureaucrat who oversaw the implementation of the controversial demonitisation and GST measures appears a part of this strategy. We can expect loan waive-offs to farmers and enhancement in minimum support price for the agricultural produce. And above all, we can expect the BJP to use Kashmir for its electoral benefits. So, it is unlikely that there will be any let up in the security centric approach the BJP-led government at the centre has single-mindedly pursued towards Kashmir. The past four and a half years have witnessed hundreds of killings and thousands of injuries in the state as part of the union government’s bid to kill its way out of the Kashmir issue. There has been little effort at a political outreach to the state. This policy is unlikely to change. Similarly, the frozen relations with Pakistan will continue uncharged.

But if the outcome of the elections in five states is anything to go by, such negative politics seems past its sell-by date. And the besides taking concrete steps to im-prove the state of economy, the BJP will need to engage in a constructive politics to regain the trust of voters. The party can only ignore this message at its peril.

Wednesday| 19-12-2018

Sunday Observer

Send your write ups and feedback at [email protected]

No Holds Barredk a s h m i r

Editor-in-Chief : Sajjad HaiderLegal Counsel: Tasaduq KhwajaSwitchboard: (0194) 2106304Editorial: (0194) 2502327Email editorial: [email protected] & Published by Sajjad Haider on behalf of the Kashmir Observer LLPPublished from: # 1- Boulevard, Srinagar-190001Printed at: KT Press Pvt. Ltd, Rangreth Ind Area, Srinagar.RNI Registration No: 69503/98Postal Registration No-L/159/KO/SK/2014-16

All in A days work

...

Argument: what are you guys doing near the encounter sites?Response: where do you think these encounter sites are? In JP Duttas films?These encounter sites are where we live. These sites are our homes. Where should we be if not there? In our homes, our neighbourhoods?

Farah BashirCongratulations to Gen Rawat whose soldiers killed 7 civilians in a Jallianwalabagh or My Lai type massacre in Pulwama, KashmirHow brave of the Indian army General!

Markandey Katju

How shameless are Kashmiri mainstream politicians going door to door to media houses for interviews? Because most of Delhi media is oblivious of their daily flip flops and three differing standard statements ready for Srinagar, Jammu and Delhi, these so-called leaders get away.

Mufti Islah

Surendra in ‘The Hindu’

4 Kashmir ObserverFriday, 01 February, 2013 OPINION

KASHMIR OBSERVERKASHMIR OBSERVERSRINAGAR, Friday, February 01, 2013

Striking at Roots

SOCIETAL TRENDS guided by the political elite have shornthe teaching profession of its status and sanctity, turning itinto just another vocation with little to distinguish it from,say, hawking garments on the streets. The adventurous, glam-

orous and challenging enterprise of kindling, illuminating and en-lightening tender young minds has become a lack-lustre anduninspiring activity devoid of its sorely-needed spirit, mainly be-cause successive leaderships (if they deserve that name) have beentoo occupied with other, more lucrative, concerns to bother aboutwhat is the corner-stone of the well-being of a people. This has hada direct bearing on the condition of schools and their performance.

By an ironic twist of circumstance, the teaching profession hasbeen for long, the last resort of the capable and the destination ofchoice for those who are unable to fit in anywhere else. When thescreening process for entry into this field - on which the entire socialedifice rests - should have been highly stringent, it had largely be-come a hit- and-trial exercise with the barest minimum regard fortalent, skill and temperament.

Having been active partners in ruining the state-run school sys-tem, the ruling classes now abdicate all responsibility by dumpingthe educational sector into the private lap. This is seen in the lavishsupport to fashionable and prohibitively expensive private schoolsand the mushrooming of lesser copycats who are making a finan-cial killing in the absence of a dependable and affordable publicstructure. It is nothing short of a scandal that parents should avoidsending their wards to government schools on account of the latter’sdismal record, and prefer seedy and crowded private options nomatter how mercenary they are.

Students cleared by the state-run school system in Kashmiroften barely make the grade in rudimentary literacy, particularly inrural and remote areas. This is sought to be cloaked by the perfor-mance of a handful of private schools, with no thought for thecolossal amounts spent on running a vast network of under-per-forming institutions. Howsoever sound the system may appear onpaper, on the ground it is as rickety and run-down as the schoolhouses spread all over rural Kashmir chronically starved of staff andproper equipment. Reports of under-manned schools, particularlyat the primary level, are a routine feature such areas, while insti-tutes in the city appear to bursting at the seams with needlessstaff, Schools in far-flung areas function at the sweet discretion oftheir often lone teachers, and instances of just one or two tutorshandling multiple classes and hundreds of students are common.The standards of such schools and the education they impart canwell be imagined.

The situation has been allowed to drift for far too long in thehope that with time the growing, engineered preference for pri-vate schools would phase the government system out of existence.It remains to be seen how well measures taken in desperation, likerecruitments scrounged in haste, are able to turn the tide for soci-ety, particularly low-income, rural and agrarian classes for whomstate-run schools were the mainstay of hope.

O T H E R O P I N I O N.....................................................................................

THE PAKISTAN women’s cricket team’s visitto India for the World Cup has turned into

a security and logistical nightmare. First, theteam could not go to Mumbai, where itsmatches were originally scheduled, after theShiv Sena started issuing its usual threatsagainst visiting Pakistani teams.

Now, hotels at the alternative venue ofCuttack and neighbouring cityBhubaneshwar have refused lodging to ourplayers out of fear.

Our cricketers now have to play this all-im-portant tournament under virtual house ar-rest, with their accommodation being pro-vided at the clubhouse of the stadium inwhich all their matches will be played. Everyother team will be staying in five-star hotels.

Discrimination Against CricketersN O H O L D S B A R R E D.................................................................................................

MAIL YOUR LETTERSP.O. Box # 337, GPO, Srinagar-190 001email: [email protected]

OBSERVER MAIL All letters intended for publication must include the writer’s name and address, even if a pseudonym is used. Letters are edited as clarity, spaceand accuracy of expression require. Our publishing a letter does not mean we agree with everything or even anything in it. -EDITOR

VIEWPOINT

This discrimination is undoubtedly unfairand puts our team at a significant disadvan-tage. The team has been conciliatory aboutits treatment but the International CricketCouncil (ICC) should take note of this.

International teams have refused to visitPakistan over justified security fears. It seems,however, that if we simply put internationalteams at clubhouses in stadiums and refuseto let them go anywhere else, the securityproblem would apparently be solved.

No country, of course, would accept suchconditions to play cricket in Pakistan. Yet, ourwomen cricketers are expected to put up withthis in India. Additionally, the final of thetournament is supposed to be held inMumbai. India needs to explain how our crick-

eters will be able to stay in Mumbai in thecurrent climate if we reach the final.

The ICC also needs to consider if India shouldbe allowed to hold multi-nation tourna-ments at a time when it can’t guarantee safetyof all players.

It is now too late to reschedule the WorldCup and our pulling out of the tournamentin protest will only heighten tensions. Weshould make clear that we are only playingunder duress and that such conditions areunacceptable if any of our sportspersons tourIndia again. Instead of appeasing the anti-Pakistan extremists, the Indian governmentmust ensure the safety and comfort of ourplayers.

-EXPRESS TRIBUNE

NILOOFAR QURESHI

Kashmir’s Fate is Just Consequential!DEAR EDITOR,

I would like to comment on theletter, written by one Shoaib Bhat,Kashmir Observer, Jan 22, titled, "Whois Responsible For LoC Killings?" Imust say to Shoaib that, you seem toknow a lot.

If it is true, there should beinvestigation and appropriate actiontaken against those who provokedpeace and created this environment

of mistrust. Could you also tell us whobeheaded and mutilated the bodies ofthe Indian soldiers? This should nothave happened in any case.

UN roles in Kashmir has beenminimised post 1971 for India. It isjust symbolic now.

It seems that the United Nationshas not played any role in this sectorfor a long time. In my view, it is morea political point on part of both these

countries, one wanting to and theother avoiding its role in Kashmir.

It is not in the interest of any oftwo countries India and Pakistan toindulge in any misadventure here oranywhere.

No one should man Kargil or otherhigher reaches, the rough terrain andall this is in the extreme frigid coldand hostile environment. The militaryon both sides should be minimised but

there is something that seems toinvite and incite the elements toKashmir. It is part of the history of thesub-continent.

We need to overcome it for oureternal peace. Unfortunately,Kashmir's fate is just consequential!

Shoaib, keep writing and stay safe.Khuda Hafez!

-VORSHALVia: email

FOR THOSE WHO HADPLACED THEIR BETS ON‘AMAN KI ASHA’, 2013 HASCERTAINLY BROUGHTBAD NEWS. BUT AREN’TTHEY THEMSELVES TO BEBLAMED FOR EXPECTINGTHE IMPOSSIBLE?

A LONG WAY TO GO

EXPECTING THAT thevenom of hatred infusedinto their people over theyears by the leaders onboth sides could easily

and quickly be remedied merely bythe antidote of ‘Confidence Build-ing Measures’ (CBMs) while theythemselves continue to foster an en-vironment of mutual mistrust!

The reaction of New Delhi andIslamabad to the recent incidents onthe LoC serves as a grim reminderthat the basic philosophy of ‘build-ing bridges’ through CBM initiativesby increasing ‘people to people’ con-tact is flawed.

Flawed, not because the conceptin itself is wrong, but because theleaders themselves don’t seem to beinterested in setting an example bydisplaying confidence in each other.Though, both countries are nowshowing some sanity in their deal-ings, the damage done to the pre-carious bilateral relationship betweenthe two by irresponsible statementslike “there can be no business asusual” and “war mongering” has

undone whatever little may havebeen achieved by the CBMs.

However, despite both sides re-iterating that the bilateral ties had notbeen derailed, the recent turn ofevents suggest otherwise. NewDelhi, suddenly like a bolt out of theblue, raked up theissue of the rel-evance of the UNMilitary ObserverG r o u p(UNMOGIP) onthe LoC in Jammuand Kashmir.

Declaring that“UNMOGIP’s rolehas been over-taken by theShimla Agreementof 1972 betweenIndia and Paki-stan, signed bythe Heads of thetwo governmentsand ratified bytheir respectiveparliaments,” theIndian representa-tive suggested itstermination.

As expected,Pakistan stronglydenounced NewDelhi’s contentionby saying that nobilateral agree-ment between thetwo nations had“overtaken or affected” the role orlegality of the UNMOGIP.

New Delhi initiated theUNMOGIP debate under the garb ofbetter spending of resources allo-

cated for the Observer Group else-where in difficult economic times.

However, as expected, this‘noble’ proposition with fiscal importfailed to cut any ice as the issue un-der discussion was an open debateon peacekeeping and not on auster-

ity measures.Why New

Delhi decided todeviate from itsage-old policy of‘letting the sleep-ing dogs lie’ tobring up theUNMOGIP issueand the timing itchose to do so,defies compre-hension. So,while nothingcame out of thisdebate, oldwounds were re-opened andnormalisation ofthe bilateral tiesbetween NewDelhi andIslamabad hastaken yet anotherbody blow.

Islamabad tooseems to be itch-ing for a chanceto ‘take on’ NewDelhi. Just a dayafter the Jamaat-ud-Dawa Chief,

Hafiz Saeed offered ‘asylum’ toBollywood star Sharukh Khan, Paki-stani Interior Minister Rehman Maliktoo joined in by saying that thoughSharukh Khan “is a born Indian and

he would like to remain Indian, but Iwill request the government of India(to) please provide him security.”

Not content with his ‘request’ tothe Government of India, Malik wenton to appeal to the Indian public that,“I would like to request all Indianbrothers and sisters and all thosewho are talking in a negative wayabout Shah Rukh, they should knowhe is a movie star."

While New Delhi may be an-noyed at Malik’s ‘request’, thepeople of India will perhaps remainever grateful to the Pakistani Inte-rior Minister for enlightening themwith the fact that Shahrukh Khan is“a movie star!”

Can bilateral ties between Indiaand Pakistan improve if Pakistanagrees that the UNMOGIP is not re-quired any longer in J&K and Indiareciprocates by providing ShahrukhKhan ‘Z’ category security?

Though the recent exchanges be-tween New Delhi and Islamabad maybring a whiff of humour into our lives,the dismal future of the bilateral rela-tions, which the present ‘line of en-gagement’ portends, is disquietingand sends shivers down the spine.

It is high time that leaders of bothcountries stop behaving like school-children and remedy the serious‘foot-in-the- mouth’ disease, whichseems to have afflicted them. Till thishappens, ‘Aman ki Asha’ will remaina distant dream and bilateral rela-tions will become another ‘comedycircus’!

NILOOFAR QURESHI is based in New Delhi andcan be reached at: [email protected]

DEAR EDITOR,Apropos news, ‘AFSPA Immu-

nity For Forces’ Sex Crimes MustEnd’, Kashmir Observer, January28, I want to say that we thepeople of Kashmir appreciatewhat Dr.Kiran Bedi said but whohas to initiate the action.

It is India who has to take theaction, but this country is neverready to bother for innocent

killings and heinous crimescommitted by its army and suchall other agencies that too withthe help of Indian puppets ofKashmiri origin.

-M. R. BABAVia: email

‘IN CONCLUSION’ was a favouritephrase of a teacher of mine — a man of scien-tific qualification; a man who looked at youand perceived atoms and molecules. Mr P, let’scall him, for he very well may still be alivemonitoring the masses that passed throughhis hands.

It was the Sixties, of course. The HippieMovement was winking naughtily from out-side classroom windows, “Come out and tastethe freedom!”

The band Uriah Heep did indeed sing,plaintively, Free Me, which may well havebeen the anthem of many a classroom boundschoolboy of that time.

It was also still the Years of Collusion —between teacher and parent to ensure at allcost that Johnny put his head down peeredinto the laboratory microscope and avertedhis gaze from the classroom windows. Theworld outside can wait, a good educationcouldn’t.

Tired of Thinking? Come to a ConclusionIf he were a cricketer — which I rather

doubt since he possessed not one jot of cricketvocabulary in his speech — but if he were acricketer Mr P would have been categorisedas an all rounder. This is because he was threescience teachers rolled into one. He taughtPhysics, Chemistry and when the frogs wereplentiful he was found in theBiology rooms giving lessonson dissection which non-bi-ology-inclined ones like my-self found hard to stomach,especially the drawing ofblood or the severing of flesh in order to peerat the undercoating and the insides.

“One has to have a stomach for thesethings,” Mr P would instruct, directing hiswords at the ones who’d gone a whiter shadeof pale and generally stood in the back rowsat the dissecting table so they missed a gooddeal of what was going on.PREPARING TO FACE LIFE: “Life is going totoss things at you that are a lot harder to take,so get used to it. In any case, you have to do ityourself come exam time. It carries a good deal

of marks, remember.”This generally got the ashen-faced ones

moving a few feet forward in a determinedeffort to overcome their resisting wills.

Chemistry periods were about tableswith cryptic symbols and water that changedcolour magically with the introduction of dif-

ferent powders. I once remem-ber naively being drawn intotaking a deep sniff from abottle of chlorine that nearlytook my sinuses for a walkright out of my body.

Physics was about equations, balanceand sticking pins in paper while trying totrace angles of reflection and refractionthrough a thick glass slab.

Most things in Mr P’s class started out aspremises before gradually working their waythrough a series of reasoning stages to a finelydrawn conclusion.

Dispute that, he’d say, pointing to asolved equation on the blackboard. Of course,who could? Especially who could who had hishead wrapped around other notions — those

of total freedom to pursue the pathways ofone’s own mind, frolic in the fields of an idyl-lic nature and dream of writing lines thatrhymed and described life in a more naturalway — a way that had nothing to do withscience?

A young man dreaming is how I come toview my school reports of that day and agewhen I glance at them occasionally thesedays yellowing in a plastic sleeve. Mr P obvi-ously had a kind heart too for his marksawarded to me in their own scientific wayreflect a kindness.

If the dissecting of a frog taught me any-thing it pointed me in the direction of veg-etarianism and a kindness to all animals greatand small. Science provided me with an in-sight into laterality. That is, you could beseated in the lap of science and be totally atease contemplating poetry.

Science didn’t care because ultimately itseems everything is relative. There is no end,no conclusion to be drawn because like somewise person once said, “A conclusion is theplace where you got tired of thinking.”

KEVIN MARTIN

LIFE IN ACLASSROOM OF

THE SIXTIES

Why New Delhidecided to deviate from

its age-old policy of‘letting the sleeping

dogs lie’ to bring up theUNMOGIP issue and

the timing it choseto do so, defies

comprehension. So,while nothing came out

of this debate, oldwounds were reopenedand normalisation of

the bilateral tiesbetween New Delhiand Islamabad has

taken yet another bodyblow. Islamabad too

seems to be itching fora chance to ‘takeon’ New Delhi.

Hail Kiran Bedi

oBsERVER

MaILAll letters intended for publication must include the writer’s name and address, even if a pseudonym is used. letters are edited as clarity, spaceand accuracy of expression require. our publishing a letter does not mean we agree with everything or even anything in it. -EdIToR

4 Kashmir ObserverFriday, 01 February, 2013 OPINION

KASHMIR OBSERVERKASHMIR OBSERVERSRINAGAR, Friday, February 01, 2013

Striking at Roots

SOCIETAL TRENDS guided by the political elite have shornthe teaching profession of its status and sanctity, turning itinto just another vocation with little to distinguish it from,say, hawking garments on the streets. The adventurous, glam-

orous and challenging enterprise of kindling, illuminating and en-lightening tender young minds has become a lack-lustre anduninspiring activity devoid of its sorely-needed spirit, mainly be-cause successive leaderships (if they deserve that name) have beentoo occupied with other, more lucrative, concerns to bother aboutwhat is the corner-stone of the well-being of a people. This has hada direct bearing on the condition of schools and their performance.

By an ironic twist of circumstance, the teaching profession hasbeen for long, the last resort of the capable and the destination ofchoice for those who are unable to fit in anywhere else. When thescreening process for entry into this field - on which the entire socialedifice rests - should have been highly stringent, it had largely be-come a hit- and-trial exercise with the barest minimum regard fortalent, skill and temperament.

Having been active partners in ruining the state-run school sys-tem, the ruling classes now abdicate all responsibility by dumpingthe educational sector into the private lap. This is seen in the lavishsupport to fashionable and prohibitively expensive private schoolsand the mushrooming of lesser copycats who are making a finan-cial killing in the absence of a dependable and affordable publicstructure. It is nothing short of a scandal that parents should avoidsending their wards to government schools on account of the latter’sdismal record, and prefer seedy and crowded private options nomatter how mercenary they are.

Students cleared by the state-run school system in Kashmiroften barely make the grade in rudimentary literacy, particularly inrural and remote areas. This is sought to be cloaked by the perfor-mance of a handful of private schools, with no thought for thecolossal amounts spent on running a vast network of under-per-forming institutions. Howsoever sound the system may appear onpaper, on the ground it is as rickety and run-down as the schoolhouses spread all over rural Kashmir chronically starved of staff andproper equipment. Reports of under-manned schools, particularlyat the primary level, are a routine feature such areas, while insti-tutes in the city appear to bursting at the seams with needlessstaff, Schools in far-flung areas function at the sweet discretion oftheir often lone teachers, and instances of just one or two tutorshandling multiple classes and hundreds of students are common.The standards of such schools and the education they impart canwell be imagined.

The situation has been allowed to drift for far too long in thehope that with time the growing, engineered preference for pri-vate schools would phase the government system out of existence.It remains to be seen how well measures taken in desperation, likerecruitments scrounged in haste, are able to turn the tide for soci-ety, particularly low-income, rural and agrarian classes for whomstate-run schools were the mainstay of hope.

O T H E R O P I N I O N.....................................................................................

THE PAKISTAN women’s cricket team’s visitto India for the World Cup has turned into

a security and logistical nightmare. First, theteam could not go to Mumbai, where itsmatches were originally scheduled, after theShiv Sena started issuing its usual threatsagainst visiting Pakistani teams.

Now, hotels at the alternative venue ofCuttack and neighbouring cityBhubaneshwar have refused lodging to ourplayers out of fear.

Our cricketers now have to play this all-im-portant tournament under virtual house ar-rest, with their accommodation being pro-vided at the clubhouse of the stadium inwhich all their matches will be played. Everyother team will be staying in five-star hotels.

Discrimination Against CricketersN O H O L D S B A R R E D.................................................................................................

MAIL YOUR LETTERSP.O. Box # 337, GPO, Srinagar-190 001email: [email protected]

OBSERVER MAIL All letters intended for publication must include the writer’s name and address, even if a pseudonym is used. Letters are edited as clarity, spaceand accuracy of expression require. Our publishing a letter does not mean we agree with everything or even anything in it. -EDITOR

VIEWPOINT

This discrimination is undoubtedly unfairand puts our team at a significant disadvan-tage. The team has been conciliatory aboutits treatment but the International CricketCouncil (ICC) should take note of this.

International teams have refused to visitPakistan over justified security fears. It seems,however, that if we simply put internationalteams at clubhouses in stadiums and refuseto let them go anywhere else, the securityproblem would apparently be solved.

No country, of course, would accept suchconditions to play cricket in Pakistan. Yet, ourwomen cricketers are expected to put up withthis in India. Additionally, the final of thetournament is supposed to be held inMumbai. India needs to explain how our crick-

eters will be able to stay in Mumbai in thecurrent climate if we reach the final.

The ICC also needs to consider if India shouldbe allowed to hold multi-nation tourna-ments at a time when it can’t guarantee safetyof all players.

It is now too late to reschedule the WorldCup and our pulling out of the tournamentin protest will only heighten tensions. Weshould make clear that we are only playingunder duress and that such conditions areunacceptable if any of our sportspersons tourIndia again. Instead of appeasing the anti-Pakistan extremists, the Indian governmentmust ensure the safety and comfort of ourplayers.

-EXPRESS TRIBUNE

NILOOFAR QURESHI

Kashmir’s Fate is Just Consequential!DEAR EDITOR,

I would like to comment on theletter, written by one Shoaib Bhat,Kashmir Observer, Jan 22, titled, "Whois Responsible For LoC Killings?" Imust say to Shoaib that, you seem toknow a lot.

If it is true, there should beinvestigation and appropriate actiontaken against those who provokedpeace and created this environment

of mistrust. Could you also tell us whobeheaded and mutilated the bodies ofthe Indian soldiers? This should nothave happened in any case.

UN roles in Kashmir has beenminimised post 1971 for India. It isjust symbolic now.

It seems that the United Nationshas not played any role in this sectorfor a long time. In my view, it is morea political point on part of both these

countries, one wanting to and theother avoiding its role in Kashmir.

It is not in the interest of any oftwo countries India and Pakistan toindulge in any misadventure here oranywhere.

No one should man Kargil or otherhigher reaches, the rough terrain andall this is in the extreme frigid coldand hostile environment. The militaryon both sides should be minimised but

there is something that seems toinvite and incite the elements toKashmir. It is part of the history of thesub-continent.

We need to overcome it for oureternal peace. Unfortunately,Kashmir's fate is just consequential!

Shoaib, keep writing and stay safe.Khuda Hafez!

-VORSHALVia: email

FOR THOSE WHO HADPLACED THEIR BETS ON‘AMAN KI ASHA’, 2013 HASCERTAINLY BROUGHTBAD NEWS. BUT AREN’TTHEY THEMSELVES TO BEBLAMED FOR EXPECTINGTHE IMPOSSIBLE?

A LONG WAY TO GO

EXPECTING THAT thevenom of hatred infusedinto their people over theyears by the leaders onboth sides could easily

and quickly be remedied merely bythe antidote of ‘Confidence Build-ing Measures’ (CBMs) while theythemselves continue to foster an en-vironment of mutual mistrust!

The reaction of New Delhi andIslamabad to the recent incidents onthe LoC serves as a grim reminderthat the basic philosophy of ‘build-ing bridges’ through CBM initiativesby increasing ‘people to people’ con-tact is flawed.

Flawed, not because the conceptin itself is wrong, but because theleaders themselves don’t seem to beinterested in setting an example bydisplaying confidence in each other.Though, both countries are nowshowing some sanity in their deal-ings, the damage done to the pre-carious bilateral relationship betweenthe two by irresponsible statementslike “there can be no business asusual” and “war mongering” has

undone whatever little may havebeen achieved by the CBMs.

However, despite both sides re-iterating that the bilateral ties had notbeen derailed, the recent turn ofevents suggest otherwise. NewDelhi, suddenly like a bolt out of theblue, raked up theissue of the rel-evance of the UNMilitary ObserverG r o u p(UNMOGIP) onthe LoC in Jammuand Kashmir.

Declaring that“UNMOGIP’s rolehas been over-taken by theShimla Agreementof 1972 betweenIndia and Paki-stan, signed bythe Heads of thetwo governmentsand ratified bytheir respectiveparliaments,” theIndian representa-tive suggested itstermination.

As expected,Pakistan stronglydenounced NewDelhi’s contentionby saying that nobilateral agree-ment between thetwo nations had“overtaken or affected” the role orlegality of the UNMOGIP.

New Delhi initiated theUNMOGIP debate under the garb ofbetter spending of resources allo-

cated for the Observer Group else-where in difficult economic times.

However, as expected, this‘noble’ proposition with fiscal importfailed to cut any ice as the issue un-der discussion was an open debateon peacekeeping and not on auster-

ity measures.Why New

Delhi decided todeviate from itsage-old policy of‘letting the sleep-ing dogs lie’ tobring up theUNMOGIP issueand the timing itchose to do so,defies compre-hension. So,while nothingcame out of thisdebate, oldwounds were re-opened andnormalisation ofthe bilateral tiesbetween NewDelhi andIslamabad hastaken yet anotherbody blow.

Islamabad tooseems to be itch-ing for a chanceto ‘take on’ NewDelhi. Just a dayafter the Jamaat-ud-Dawa Chief,

Hafiz Saeed offered ‘asylum’ toBollywood star Sharukh Khan, Paki-stani Interior Minister Rehman Maliktoo joined in by saying that thoughSharukh Khan “is a born Indian and

he would like to remain Indian, but Iwill request the government of India(to) please provide him security.”

Not content with his ‘request’ tothe Government of India, Malik wenton to appeal to the Indian public that,“I would like to request all Indianbrothers and sisters and all thosewho are talking in a negative wayabout Shah Rukh, they should knowhe is a movie star."

While New Delhi may be an-noyed at Malik’s ‘request’, thepeople of India will perhaps remainever grateful to the Pakistani Inte-rior Minister for enlightening themwith the fact that Shahrukh Khan is“a movie star!”

Can bilateral ties between Indiaand Pakistan improve if Pakistanagrees that the UNMOGIP is not re-quired any longer in J&K and Indiareciprocates by providing ShahrukhKhan ‘Z’ category security?

Though the recent exchanges be-tween New Delhi and Islamabad maybring a whiff of humour into our lives,the dismal future of the bilateral rela-tions, which the present ‘line of en-gagement’ portends, is disquietingand sends shivers down the spine.

It is high time that leaders of bothcountries stop behaving like school-children and remedy the serious‘foot-in-the- mouth’ disease, whichseems to have afflicted them. Till thishappens, ‘Aman ki Asha’ will remaina distant dream and bilateral rela-tions will become another ‘comedycircus’!

NILOOFAR QURESHI is based in New Delhi andcan be reached at: [email protected]

DEAR EDITOR,Apropos news, ‘AFSPA Immu-

nity For Forces’ Sex Crimes MustEnd’, Kashmir Observer, January28, I want to say that we thepeople of Kashmir appreciatewhat Dr.Kiran Bedi said but whohas to initiate the action.

It is India who has to take theaction, but this country is neverready to bother for innocent

killings and heinous crimescommitted by its army and suchall other agencies that too withthe help of Indian puppets ofKashmiri origin.

-M. R. BABAVia: email

‘IN CONCLUSION’ was a favouritephrase of a teacher of mine — a man of scien-tific qualification; a man who looked at youand perceived atoms and molecules. Mr P, let’scall him, for he very well may still be alivemonitoring the masses that passed throughhis hands.

It was the Sixties, of course. The HippieMovement was winking naughtily from out-side classroom windows, “Come out and tastethe freedom!”

The band Uriah Heep did indeed sing,plaintively, Free Me, which may well havebeen the anthem of many a classroom boundschoolboy of that time.

It was also still the Years of Collusion —between teacher and parent to ensure at allcost that Johnny put his head down peeredinto the laboratory microscope and avertedhis gaze from the classroom windows. Theworld outside can wait, a good educationcouldn’t.

Tired of Thinking? Come to a ConclusionIf he were a cricketer — which I rather

doubt since he possessed not one jot of cricketvocabulary in his speech — but if he were acricketer Mr P would have been categorisedas an all rounder. This is because he was threescience teachers rolled into one. He taughtPhysics, Chemistry and when the frogs wereplentiful he was found in theBiology rooms giving lessonson dissection which non-bi-ology-inclined ones like my-self found hard to stomach,especially the drawing ofblood or the severing of flesh in order to peerat the undercoating and the insides.

“One has to have a stomach for thesethings,” Mr P would instruct, directing hiswords at the ones who’d gone a whiter shadeof pale and generally stood in the back rowsat the dissecting table so they missed a gooddeal of what was going on.PREPARING TO FACE LIFE: “Life is going totoss things at you that are a lot harder to take,so get used to it. In any case, you have to do ityourself come exam time. It carries a good deal

of marks, remember.”This generally got the ashen-faced ones

moving a few feet forward in a determinedeffort to overcome their resisting wills.

Chemistry periods were about tableswith cryptic symbols and water that changedcolour magically with the introduction of dif-

ferent powders. I once remem-ber naively being drawn intotaking a deep sniff from abottle of chlorine that nearlytook my sinuses for a walkright out of my body.

Physics was about equations, balanceand sticking pins in paper while trying totrace angles of reflection and refractionthrough a thick glass slab.

Most things in Mr P’s class started out aspremises before gradually working their waythrough a series of reasoning stages to a finelydrawn conclusion.

Dispute that, he’d say, pointing to asolved equation on the blackboard. Of course,who could? Especially who could who had hishead wrapped around other notions — those

of total freedom to pursue the pathways ofone’s own mind, frolic in the fields of an idyl-lic nature and dream of writing lines thatrhymed and described life in a more naturalway — a way that had nothing to do withscience?

A young man dreaming is how I come toview my school reports of that day and agewhen I glance at them occasionally thesedays yellowing in a plastic sleeve. Mr P obvi-ously had a kind heart too for his marksawarded to me in their own scientific wayreflect a kindness.

If the dissecting of a frog taught me any-thing it pointed me in the direction of veg-etarianism and a kindness to all animals greatand small. Science provided me with an in-sight into laterality. That is, you could beseated in the lap of science and be totally atease contemplating poetry.

Science didn’t care because ultimately itseems everything is relative. There is no end,no conclusion to be drawn because like somewise person once said, “A conclusion is theplace where you got tired of thinking.”

KEVIN MARTIN

LIFE IN ACLASSROOM OF

THE SIXTIES

Why New Delhidecided to deviate from

its age-old policy of‘letting the sleeping

dogs lie’ to bring up theUNMOGIP issue and

the timing it choseto do so, defies

comprehension. So,while nothing came out

of this debate, oldwounds were reopenedand normalisation of

the bilateral tiesbetween New Delhiand Islamabad has

taken yet another bodyblow. Islamabad too

seems to be itching fora chance to ‘takeon’ New Delhi.

Hail Kiran Bedi

[email protected]

Why Sirnoo Killings Won’t Shake world Conscience

THOuGH a humungous trag-edy, the death of seven civil-ians due to firing by govern-ment forces in Sirnoo village

of Pulwama district in south Kashmir on Saturday is not the first such inci-dent and if things remain as they are, then it’s very unlikely that this would the last one either. Thus, we have two options before us- we just sit back, let events take their own course and con-tinue playing the ‘blame game’ by ex-pressing grief and anguish every time there is loss of lives. Or we can do some serious soul searching and get down to changing mindsets that seek to draw political mileage from human trag-edy. While taking the former option is easy as it requires nothing more than an impervious conscience and merely involves lamenting loss of human lives and observing shutdowns to register

our protests, doing the latter isn’t easy since it demands statesmanship of a very order!

Legally speaking, every adult has the full right to do as he or she pleases and that’s why there is nothing wrong with those who voluntarily rush to encounter sites and are willing to risk exposing themselves to the dangers of being killed or incapacitated. Howev-er, there is an ethical angle that every individual who does so must confront before proceeding to the site where a gunfight between government forces and militants is in progress. And this requires one to consider just two things; one, whether the person con-cerned has some moral responsibility towards his or her parents, siblings, wife and children; two, could this per-son’s presence or actions at the site of encounter pose a threat to some inno-

cent fellow Kashmiris? If we are doing this to tell the world

that our unconditional solidarity with ‘freedom fighters’ and readiness to face bullets of government forces accords legitimacy to militancy in Kashmir, then we are sadly mistaken. Both uN and the international community out-rightly reject any use of violent means to resolve a problem no matter how grave the provocation may be. If the aim is to facilitate escape of militants by obstructing government forces then again we should not expect any sympa-thy from any country or international organisation for the protesters killed in firing by government forces since the ‘freedom fighters’ that we are try-ing to shield are viewed as ‘terrorists’ by the international community and conducting anti-terrorist operations are legal throughout the world.

Our leaders may call for as many shutdowns, sit-ins and candle light vigils as they like but there will be no end to loss of innocent lives or interna-tional condemnation of killings as long as crowds continue gathering at the scene of gunfights and keep obstruct-ing government forces when they are fighting militants. And though the joint resistance leadership (JRL) of Hurriyat may keep accusing New Delhi for ‘state terrorism’ in Kashmir, continue ap-pealing for international intervention and repeatedly demand uN monitored investigation into human right viola-tions by government forces in Kashmir, but nothing will ever come out of it un-less we first set our own house in order!

Niloofar [email protected]

New Delhi

o t h e r o p I N o N

Broken bridgesThe Pulwama killings deepen fault lines and, in the absence of a government, make the road ahead more fraught.

EAcH time a civilian dies at the hands of the security forces in Kashmir, a bridge breaks irreparably be-tween the Valley and the rest of the country. In Pul-wama on Saturday, seven civilians were killed when

the Army opened fire at a protesting crowd that gathered near the site of an encounter in which three militants and an Army jawan were also killed.

Governor Satya Pal Malik, who took charge earlier this year, has said on several occasions that the idea should be to win the hearts and minds of people through “love and under-standing”. Killing, he is likely to agree, is not the way to go about that. The standard justification from the Army in all such incidents has been that its soldiers fired in self-defence. If so, the question, asked countless times before, needs to be asked yet again: Why do they shoot to kill? In 2017, the Army chief General Bipin Rawat had said all civilians who gather at encounter sites and obstruct operations by security person-nel during encounters “will be treated as overground workers of terrorists”. Whether or not his words have acted as a dog whistle, scores of people have been killed near encounter sites over the last two years, reinforcing the impression in the Val-ley that soldiers, protected by AFSPA, act with impunity, and that while India insists on Kashmir’s centrality to its territo-rial integrity, it does not care about Kashmiri lives.

The Pulwama incident, just as the six-month long Gover-nor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir is set to segue into Presi-dent’s rule, does not augur well for the coming months. It will feed the narrative of repression and brutality against Kash-miris that is the staple of militant and separatist propaganda, which in turn will feed the spiral of violence. There is no elect-ed government in the state that can act as a shock absorber in these dark times. The centre’s policy on Kashmir since 2016 has been to put down militancy with an iron fist, while shut-ting down all political outreach. A special representative ap-pointed over a year ago had sparked hope of a more nuanced approach by the government, but Dineshwar Sharma has had nothing substantial to do since his appointment. The holding of panchayat and urban local bodies elections was touted as a grand achievement as there were no violent incidents during the polling. But it is time to admit that brushing issues under the carpet is no substitute for policy. Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi once said he needs no one’s advice on Kashmir. His government needs to go back to the drawing board.

Indian Express

Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

Reducing Governance Deficit?Satya Pal Malik, a new inductee into the 70-year governance deficit that is Jammu and Kashmir, is a puzzling out of the box incumbent.

Siddiq Wahid

JAMMu and Kashmir has had governors of all hues through its disputed life. One of the best was BK Nehru, whom my fa-ther had acquainted me with in Delhi in

the late 1960s. Then governor-to-be, he spoke on a now-forgotten subject but immediately im-pressed me. His stature rose when he opted to resign rather than be used by Indira Gandhi to play politics in Kashmir. One of the least palat-able governors was Jagmohan, a servile bully. Servile to those he owed his position to, a bully to those whose interests he was meant to serve. The contribution of the previous governor, NN Vohra, is too close in time to assess fully. But from what is known, he was a cautious governor: ideologically neutral, administratively adroit and methodical in decision-making. BK Nehru was a constitutional head with a backbone. Jag-mohan was a governor with spine who did not care for the constitution or people. Vohra was a student of the constitution, skilled at balancing multiple interests.

Satya Pal Malik, a new inductee into the 70-year governance deficit that is Jammu and Kash-mir, is a puzzling out of the box incumbent. Dis-turbingly, he comes across as a politician who is unfamiliar with the constitution of India even as it is being challenged by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It is his own words and actions that prosecute him. The portents for his tenure, therefore, are not good.

Take, for example, his dissolution of the state Assembly on November 21. Governors do have the constitutional authority to dissolve assemblies. But, as Shyam Saran, India’s for-mer foreign secretary, has pointed out, “What is troubling is the justification he has provided for his action.” Malik defended the dissolution based on his political opinion that the proposed coalition government would not be stable be-cause it did not “comprise of like-minded par-ties”. Surely, someone among his civil service advisers could have counseled the governor that his opinion about what constitutes “stability” and “likemindedness” did not matter when up against the constitution?

In this context, the non-role of the governor’s advisers is puzzling. Of course, the advice may not have been heeded. But advisers can still go on record (which is to say on paper) and be clear in their conscience (which is to say with regard for truth) that they did recommend against such action. Have we no such advisers?

Speaking of advisers brings us to another ex-ample of self-indictment. The Indian Express re-ported earlier this month that one adviser coun-selled Malik that having consolidated power in his own hands, he should militarise and person-alise the office of the governor for himself and his family. Ironically, the move is described as a “well thought-out decision” to skirt the Jammu and Kashmir Special Security Group Act of 2000, which does not provide for such personalised security. The proposal argues that the constitu-tional office of the governor needs autonomous military protection controlled by the office of the

governor. The Bharatiya Janata Party govern-ment in Delhi may not be concerned but the scheme is regarded with confident satisfaction among Kashmiris. The extraordinary assertion of power by a supposed figurehead provides yet another optic to authenticate the contention that Kashmir is occupied territory.

His master’s voice?Another broad strand of thought in Malik

has been his publicly declared sweeping general-isation of Jammu and Kashmir’s bureaucracy as corrupt; officials whose homes are stuffed with cash and carpets. Former union minister Saifud-din Soz has acknowledged, correctly, that the state is no stranger to corruption. Nor is Kash-mir a newcomer to such caricaturing of its peo-ples. European travelogues from 19th and early 20th centuries – rankly ignorant of the Valley’s history, culture and politics – are replete with bigoted, even racist portrayals. Some Indian bu-reaucrats have picked up this thread since the colonial departure from South Asia. The latest in this line of thinking is the mimicking of such flotsam by a recent vice chancellor of Kashmir university. In a book published after his tenure ended, he uses a generalised denunciation to de-cry the work ethic of Kashmiri professors.

But similar declarations by the governor, a politician nominated to a sinecure position in a conflict-ridden state, is nothing short of con-

fident arrogance. In this context, Soz’s charac-terisation of Malik’s accusation as merely “sad” falls far short of the sharp censure it deserves from all Kashmiris. Speaking of which, one won-ders how Kashmiri bureaucrats serving in Raj Bhavan or in the administration generally can tolerate such language.

However, the generic objection to Malik’s actions is that he ignores the law, an observa-tion made by AG Noorani, who is arguably the leading living legal authority on Jammu and Kashmir’s relationship with the Indian union. Governor’s Rule, Noorani writes, is a “caretaker regime”, custodian of the state’s administration in the hiatus between elected governments. As such, it is “forbidden” by established rules of the Election commission to undertake any execu-tive action which is the right of an elected body. Yet, the governor has sought to take several such actions, as mentioned above and including an at-tempt to redefine the character of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the one institution that has largely survived and, indeed, been a mainstay in this drifting ship of a state. He beat a hasty re-treat when challenged by the people and experts, but such strange shifts are perplexing in an al-ready perplexed state.

Perhaps this is precisely why the BJP, of which he is a member, chose Malik as the gov-ernor: to ensure that President’s Rule is imposed in the state so that the Assembly election can be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elec-tion in the next six months. This, presumably, is intended to give the BJP an advantage. As I had noted soon after Malik was appointed, he was a pliant governor in Bihar and would be so in Jammu and Kashmir. There is little doubt about that now.

But politics is an unpredictable game. The BJP’s rout at the hands of the congress in chhat-tisgarh and Rajasthan, its narrow loss to the grand old party in Madhya Pradesh (where the chief minster was a “moderate” rightist) and its defeat in Telangana and Mizoram to regional parties must alarm the party’s president, worry the home minister and sober the prime minister. What if this phase of the BJP’s turn to be in pow-er, won through a strategy of polarisation and the tactics of hate, has exhausted itself?

This bleak situation could be an opportu-nity for Malik. Might it serve to convince his patrons in the BJP and its ideological master, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, that Presi-dent’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir must be ex-tended beyond the Lok Sabha election for a full year, until when the Assembly election is due? The trajectory of the governor’s actions so far suggests that possibility.

If that is the path intended, it will provide ample time for more upheavals in Jammu and Kashmir, greater complications for the Indian state and more complexity in the international dispute over the former princely state.

Siddiq Wahid is a historian, author and activist.

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Former Union minister Saifuddin

Soz has acknowledged, correctly, that the state is no stranger to corruption. Nor is Kashmir a newcomer to such caricaturing of its peoples. European travelogues from 19th and early 20th centuries – rankly ignorant of the Valley’s history, culture and politics – are replete with bigoted, even racist portrayals. Some Indian bureaucrats have picked up this thread since the colonial departure from South Asia.

Wednesday| 19-12-2018Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

Time Travel Is Possible – But Only If You Have An Object With Infinite Mass

The concept of time travel has always captured the imagination of physicists and laypersons alike. But is it really possible? Of course it is. We’re doing it

right now, aren’t we? We are all traveling into the future one second at a time.

But that was not what you were thinking. Can we travel much further into the future? Ab-solutely. If we could travel close to the speed of light, or in the proximity of a black hole, time would slow down enabling us to travel arbitrari-ly far into the future. The really interesting ques-tion is whether we can travel back into the past.

I am a physics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and first heard about the notion of time travel when I was 7, from a 1980 episode of Carl Sagan’s classic TV series, “Cosmos.” I decided right then that some-day, I was going to pursue a deep study of the the-ory that underlies such creative and remarkable ideas: einstein’s relativity. Twenty years later, I emerged with a Ph.D. in the field and have been an active researcher in the theory ever since.

Now, one of my doctoral students has just published a paper in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity that describes how to build a time machine using a very simple construction.

Closed time-like curveseinstein’s general theory of relativity al-

lows for the possibility of warping time to such a high degree that it actually folds upon itself, re-sulting in a time loop. Imagine you’re traveling along this loop; that means that at some point, you’d end up at a moment in the past and begin experiencing the same moments since, all over again – a bit like deja vu, except you wouldn’t realize it. Such constructs are often referred to as “closed time-like curves” or CTCs in the re-search literature, and popularly referred to as “time machines.” Time machines are a byprod-uct of effective faster-than-light travel schemes and understanding them can improve our under-standing of how the universe works.

Over the past few decades well-known physicists like Kip Thorne and Stephen hawk-

ing produced seminal work on models related to time machines.

The general conclusion that has emerged from previous research, including Thorne’s and hawking’s, is that nature forbids time loops. This is perhaps best explained in hawking’s “Chronol-ogy Protection Conjecture,” which essentially says that nature doesn’t allow for changes to its past history, thus sparing us from the paradoxes

that can emerge if time travel were possible.Perhaps the most well-known amongst these

paradoxes that emerge due to time travel into the past is the so-called “grandfather paradox” in which a traveler goes back into the past and murders his own grandfather. This alters the course of history in a way that a contradiction emerges: The traveler was never born and there-fore cannot exist. There have been many movie and novel plots based on the paradoxes that re-sult from time travel – perhaps some of the most popular ones being the “Back to the Future” movies and “Groundhog Day.”

Exotic matterDepending on the details, different physi-

cal phenomena may intervene to prevent closed time-like curves from developing in physical sys-tems. The most common is the requirement for a particular type of “exotic” matter that must be present in order for a time loop to exist. Loosely speaking, exotic matter is matter that has nega-tive mass. The problem is negative mass is not known to exist in nature.

Caroline Mallary, a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has published a new model for a time machine in the journal Classical & Quantum Gravity. This new model does not require any negative mass exotic material and offers a very simple design.

Mallary’s model consists of two super long cars – built of material that is not exotic, and have positive mass – parked in parallel. One

car moves forward rapidly, leaving the other parked. Mallary was able to show that in such a setup, a time loop can be found in the space be-tween the cars.

So can you build this in your backyard?If you suspect there is a catch, you are cor-

rect. Mallary’s model requires that the center of each car has infinite density. That means they contain objects – called singularities – with an infinite density, temperature and pressure. Moreover, unlike singularities that are pres-ent in the interior of black holes, which makes them totally inaccessible from the outside, the singularities in Mallary’s model are completely bare and observable, and therefore have true physical effects.

Physicists don’t expect such peculiar objects to exist in nature either. So, unfortunately a time machine is not going to be available anytime soon. however, this work shows that physicists may have to refine their ideas about why closed time-like curves are forbidden.

By arrangements with The Conversation

Gaurav Khanna

What Happened In Sirnoo, Pulwama: An Eyewitness Account

haKeem Irfan | economIc TImes

SIRNOO, PULWAMA: The armed forces have allegedly used four locals of Kharpo-ra village as human shields to scout for the exact hideout of the militants in the apple

orchard adjacent to village in Pulwama, where three militants and seven civilians were killed on December 15.

The Army allegedly dragged, 35-year-old Firdous Ahmad Najar, a teacher in J&K government, out of his house along with his brother and two neighbors at around 6 am on Saturday. The Army personnels, locals said, took them to the orchard, where the forc-es had already laid multilevel cordon.

“We were ordered to remove stacks of logs scattered in different parts of the orchard and forced to enter into a non-functional poultry farm, which they suspected to be the hideout of mili-tants,” reminisces Najar, who also claims that army personnel thrashed him as well.

Later, Najar was pushed to remove another stack of logs near a canal in middle of the orchard. “I removed the logs and saw two tactical boots. The armyman besides me immediately fired bul-lets, without bothering for our lives. They fired at the hideout from 15 to 20 feet distance and then took the positions around the spot,” says Najar adding, “All four of us were kept hostages, as we laid in the orchard on abdomen till the firing was over at around 11 am. Then they left us there.”

however, his story of being taken as a hos-tage, Najar says is trivia in context of the killings and mayhem armed forces unfolded in the area, after the encounter was over. Najar’s cousin Sa-hahzab Najar, 18, who was standing outside his house said he was shot by the army convoy, when they were retreating from the encounter spot.

“They took the revenge for not participating in the ULB and Panchayat elections. Army and SOG is implementing what General Rawat says day in and day out. They want to teach us a lesson and force us not to participate in any funeral or support the militants,” said a teenager, who was present at the spot, when the protests were going on.

Eye Witness Account:Locals claimed that encounter was over

within 15 to 20 minutes, after the first shots were fired at around 8am. “But the forces intention-ally opened fire at civilians, who were near the road adjacent to the orchard and a paddy field,” said another eyewitness, who was present at the spot. The first civilian-- a minor—another local said, was shot near a chinar tree in the orchard at around 8:45am and rest of the civilians were killed till 10:00am.

“There was no major stone pelting going on. Stones were not available in abundance in the orchard or paddy field. The forces just wanted to take revenge on us for not accepting the Indian occupation,” said a student, who reiterated that

dearth of weapons is the limitation otherwise ev-ery youngster would have taken up arms.

Army and Hurriyat The "civilian" killings have sent shock waves

across the state and joint hurriyat leadership of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Ya-sin Malik called for three day strike and march towards Army’s 15 Corps headquarter at Badami Bagh cantonment in Srinagar on December 17. The Army has asked people not to gather around cantonment saying that vested interests are con-tinuously at work to instigate and mobilise gull-ible youths to encounter sites.

“The call given by JRL (Joint Resistance Leadership) for march to Badami Bagh Canton-ment is another such attempt…Indian Army is always with the people of Kashmir and would foil all such evil attempts of Terrorist-Separatist-Pak-istan nexus to pit the civilian population against

the Security Forces. The public is once again ad-vised not to pay heed to this misleading call by JRL,” read the official release of Army. Jammu and Kashmir police also issued advisory saying that public transport will not ply on road leading to army headquarters in Srinagar and restric-tions would be imposed as well.

Kashmiri Pandit family mourns HM commanders killing:In Sirnoo of Pulwama, a Kashmiri Pandit fam-

ily is mourning the killing of Zahoor Thokar, an army man turned militant, who was killed along with two hM members on Saturday. The army has raided this pandit family six to seven times since Thokar took up arms in June 2017, when he deserted the army from its headquarter in Baram-ullah of northern Kashmir. Three Pandit families live next to the residence of Thokar.

“he was a nice boy and has tended our kitch-en garden many times. he would play cricket

with our children. But we never saw him since he took up arms,” said a female member of the Pan-dit family. Around seven pandit families still live in Sirnoo village. Many pandit families living in Jammu and outside the state still own the land in this village.

“I was pained to see the funeral from the win-dow of my house. his death came as a shock and we will live with his memories of playing in our lawn,” says another family member. “Militants never came to our house. We never saw Zahoor after he took up arms. I have played with him and can never forget him,” said another family mem-ber, who is a student in college.

On whether they face any threat living as a minority in this volatile area of Pulwama in southern Kashmir, a family member responded, “This is not 1990’s. These boys (militants) are clear that their aim is not to harass anybody but to achieve something else.”

The general conclusion that has

emerged from previous research, including Thorne’s and Hawking’s, is that nature forbids time loops. This is perhaps best explained in Hawking’s “Chronology Protection Conjecture,” which essentially says that nature doesn’t allow for changes to its past history, thus sparing us from the paradoxes that can emerge if time travel were possible.

Depending on the details, different physical phenomena may intervene to prevent closed time-like curves

from developing in physical systems. The most common is the requirement for a particular type of “exotic” matter that must be present in order for a time loop to exist. Loosely speaking, exotic matter is matter that has negative mass. The problem is negative mass is not known to exist in nature.

I removed the logs and saw two tactical boots. The armyman besides me immediately fired bullets, without bothering for our lives. They fired at the hideout from 15 to 20 feet distance and then took the positions

around the spot. All four of us were kept hostages, as we laid in the orchard on abdomen till the firing was over at around 11 am. Then they left us there.

Life TIMES

Wednesday | 19-12-2018 08Burnout, stress lead more companies to try a four-day work weekWork four days a week, but get paid for five?

It sounds too good to be true, but compa-nies around the world that have cut their work week have found that it leads to higher produc-tivity, more motivated staff and less burnout.

“It is much healthier and we do a better job if we’re not working crazy hours,” said Jan Schulz-Hofen, founder of Berlin-based proj-ect management software company Planio, who introduced a four-day week to the com-pany’s 10-member staff earlier this year.

In New Zealand, insurance company Per-petual Guardian reported a fall in stress and a jump in staff engagement after it tested a 32-hour week earlier this year.

Even in Japan, the government is encour-aging companies to allow Monday mornings off, although other schemes in the worka-holic country to persuade employees to take it easy have had little effect.

Britain’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) is pushing for the whole country to move to a four-day week by the end of the century, a drive supported by the opposition Labour party.

The TUC argues that a shorter week is a way for workers to share in the wealth gen-erated by new technologies like machine learning and robotics, just as they won the right to the weekend off during the indus-trial revolution.

“It would reduce the stress of juggling working and family life and could improve gender equality. Companies that have al-ready tried it say it’s better for productiv-ity and staff wellbeing,” said TUC economic head Kate Bell.

OverworkedLucie Greene, trends expert at consul-

tancy J. Walter Thompson, said there was a growing backlash against overwork, un-derlined by a wave of criticism after Tesla

boss Elon Musk tweeted that “nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week.”

“People are starting to take a step back from the 24-hour digital life we have now and real-ize the mental health issues from being con-stantly connected to work,” Greene said.

A recent survey of 3,000 employees in eight countries including the United States, Britain and Germany found that nearly half thought they could easily finish their tasks in five hours a day if they did not have inter-ruptions, but many are exceeding 40 hours a week anyway - with the United States leading the way, where 49 percent said they worked overtime.

“There has been work creep. Because you always have the technology, you are always working, so people are getting burned out,” said Dan Schawbel, director of executive de-

velopment firm Future Workplace, which conducted the survey with Kronos.

Schulz-Hofen, a 36-year-old software en-gineer, tested the four-day week on himself after realizing he needed to slow down fol-lowing a decade of intense work launching Planio, whose tools allowed him to track his time in detail. “I didn’t get less work done in four days than in five because in five days, you think you have more time, you take lon-ger, you allow yourself to have more inter-ruptions, you have your coffee a bit longer or chat with colleagues,” Schulz-Hofen said.

“I realized with four days, I have to be quick, I have to be focused if I want to have my free Friday.”

Schulz-Hofen and his team discussed var-ious options before settling on everybody working Monday to Thursday. They rejected

the idea of flexible hours because it adds ad-ministrative complexity, and were against a five-day week with shorter hours as it is too easy for overwork to creep back in.

Clients who call on a Friday hear a recorded message explaining why nobody is at the office.

“We got an unexpected reaction from cus-tomers. Most of our clients did not complain. They were just jealous,” Schulz-Hofen said.

Grey New York, an ad agency owned by WPP, launched a program in April to allow staff to work a four-day week for 85 percent of their full-time salary.

Schawbel expects the idea to catch on in more companies and countries, but proba-bly not his own: “I think America will be the last country to give us Monday mornings off because we’re so used to this way of work-ing.” (Agencies)

Link between bodyweight and cancer discovered in new study

WASHINGTON DC: Excess body weight or obesity is responsible for 3.9 per cent of cancer globally, a new study has found.

The study, published in the jour-nal Cancer, highlighted a relation-ship between obesity and the risk of 13 types of cancers, including postmenopausal breast cancer and liver cancer, and a probable rela-tionship with three others, includ-ing prostate cancer.

"In particular, not many people are aware of the link of over-weight/obesity to cancer risk," said Hyuna Sung, a participant re-searcher of the study.

The researchers noted that by 2030, 21.7 million new cancer cases and 13 million cancer deaths are ex-pected to occur around the world.

The study looked at cancer and excess body weight on the basis of gender. The total number of cases

for women was nearly double that of men, with breast cancer being one of the largest contributors. For men, liver cancer was one of the highest contributors.

Researchers, during the study, used publicly available or already published parameters and esti-mates to show regional and global trends of obesity and overweight for the past four decades. During that period, the prevalence of excess body weight rose from 21 per cent in men and 24 per cent in women to approximately 40 per cent in both sexes in all regions of the world.

"The simultaneous rise in excess body weight in almost all countries is thought to be driven largely by changes in the global food system, which promotes energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods, alongside re-duced opportunities for physical activity," Sung said. (Agencies)

Most people can correctly assess their own personalities: StudyIt's widely assumed that people have rose-tinted glasses on when they consider their own personality, according to a re-cent study, that's not entirely true. The research suggests that when it comes to self-assess-ment, people have a pretty good grip on their own personalities.

As part of this research, Brian Connelly, lead author of the study, conducted a large-scale meta-analysis of 160 indepen-dent studies to see whether self-enhancement exists in personal-ity assessments. The findings of the study were published in the Journal of Psychological Science.

The team of researchers found strong support that self-report-ing is indeed accurate, and those findings held across the big five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism). One trait that did show some evidence of self-en-hancement was a specific aspect of openness, however, Connelly notes the effect was small.

In other words, our percep-tion of our own personality matches that of our peers. "We

make personality judgments of ourselves and others all the time, and a popular notion is that self-reports are more posi-tively biased ... but we find little support for that in the litera-ture," Connelly said.

"People are generally attuned to the impressions they convey. Some people may stray toward self-enhancement, or in the op-posite direction with self-efface-ment, but there are social costs

associated with both that makes the general trend for people to be accurate," Connelly added.

Having a good handle on self and peer perceptions of per-sonality is important in under-standing how people function, says Connelly. While much of his research deals with how people function at work and in school, he says these perceptions can help us better navigate all social situations. (Agencies)

Women are on track to earn the same as men — in 202 yearsThe good news: The global gender gap has improved, slightly. The reality: Differ-ences in economic opportunity, including pay between men and women, are so vast it’ll take 202 years to fully bridge them, according to the World Economic Forum.

The group looks at several measures of equality between men and women in this year’s Global Gender Gap Report, released Tuesday. Overall gender disparity across politics, work, health and education im-proved by less than 0.1 percent, meaning it’ll take 108 years to reach parity. The economic opportunity gap -- based on participation, pay and advancement in the workforce -- remains the area that’ll take the longest time to close.

The figures are a tiny improvement from last year’s results, where the gap be-tween the achievements and well-being of men and women widened for the first time in more than a decade.

“What we’re seeing globally is that we don’t have any country that’s achieved gender equality, regardless of level of development, region or type of economy. Gender inequality is the reality around the

world, and we’re seeing that in all aspects of women’s lives,” said Anna-Karin Jatfors, regional director for UN Women. She add-ed that “202 years is too long a wait” for

economic equity.Jatfors said governments can help spur

improvements with equal-pay policies and investment in parental and elder care

infrastructure, and by allowing women le-gal protections including job security dur-ing pregnancy.

There’s been “minimal progress” since last year’s report in measuring economic participation and opportunity, the WEF said, with the worst-performing countries mainly in the Middle East and North Afri-ca. Only 34 percent of global managers are women, and income gaps have been “par-ticularly persistent,’ with 63 percent of the global wage gap having closed so far.

Iceland TopsIceland was the best performer on the

list for the 10th year running. It also re-mained No. 1 for women’s political em-powerment, although it slid in female representation among legislators, senior officials and managers. In October, Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir was among scores of Icelandic women who walked out of their workplaces to protest wage in-equality and sexual harassment. Other na-tions with female leaders -- New Zealand and the U.K. -- finished seventh and 15th.

In Asia, the Philippines edged its way into eighth place on the overall global

index. As such, it was the best performer in Asia, boosted by gender equality in education, politics and an improvement in wage equity. The country is far ahead of the continent’s next best performer -- Laos at 26th. Singapore ranked 67th and China was 103th, coming in last globally in women’s health.

Political empowerment is where the gender gap remains the widest, accord-ing to the findings. The US fell to the 98th spot for the measure, sliding from 66th in 2006. Still, in the midterm elections last month, which took place after the survey data was collected, women won a record 102 seats in the US House as of Nov. 19, fueled by Democratic opposition to Presi-dent Donald Trump.

Progress in political empowerment in the West has been slightly reduced, with the gap of women in parliament in 22 Western countries being 41 percent. Yet improvement is being made in the rest of the world.

Warning AheadA new sector for gender imbalance is

emerging, according to the report. The gap

in artificial intelligence is three times larg-er than in other industries, according to an analysis conducted by WEF and LinkedIn. Women with AI skills are more likely to be employed as data analysts and informa-tion managers, while men tend to land in more lucrative and senior positions such as engineering heads and chief executives.

A number of factors are at play here, the report said, including automation af-fecting jobs typically done by women and fewer women entering high-growth employment areas such as information technology.

“In an era when human skills are in-creasingly important and complementary to technology, the world cannot afford to deprive itself of women’s talent in sec-tors in which talent is already scarce,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the WEF.

In this area, Singapore, Italy and South Africa outperformed others. Women made up 28 percent of the AI workforce in all three countries, for the highest percentage among 20 economies surveyed this year using LinkedIn data. ( Bloomberg)

‘Dads of daughters hold less traditional attitudes on gender’Having a daughter makes men

less likely to hold traditional attitudes towards gender roles,

a trend that became particularly pro-nounced when daughters reached school-age, a study has found.

Researchers from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) analysed the effects of becoming the parent of a daughter on both men and women. A representative sample of parents from a survey spanning two decades in the UK between 1991 and 2012 were assessed on whether they supported the notion of the ‘tradition-al male breadwinner’, with the wife as a homemaker.

Researchers found strong evidence that having daughters decreases fa-thers’ likelihood to hold traditional at-titudes towards gender roles, a trend that became particularly pronounced when daughters reached school-age.

They found that father’s likelihood to support traditional gender roles typically declined by eight per cent

when their daughters were in primary school and by 11% when their daugh-ters reached secondary school.

Comparatively, the effect of having a daughter on mother’s attitudes was not significant, confirming findings from previous studies that having a daugh-ter affects men and women differently.

In addition to changes in attitudes amongst fathers, the authors found be-havioural change occurred, as parents of school-age daughters were less likely follow a traditional gender division of work. While researchers do not directly test the underlying reasons for their findings, they note that instead of the change occurring at the time of the birth

of their daughter, the significant attitude change occurs in fathers around the time their daughters reach school age.

This coincides with the period where children experience a stronger social pressure to conform to gender norms, researchers said.

“Through parenting, fathers of daughters may develop a better under-standing of women’s and girls’ disad-vantages in society, resulting in a sig-nificant shift in their attitudes towards gender norms,” researchers said.

Mothers, on the other hand, hold less traditional attitudes to start with and appear to be less affected by par-enting daughters. This may be because

they ‘have already been exposed to situations of disadvantage first-hand,’ researchers said.

“Traditional attitudes towards gen-der roles can be a barrier to achieving gender equality inside and outside the workplace, so our evidence that such attitudes can change over time is very encouraging,” said Julia Philipp, a PhD candidate in LSE.

“The study shows that at-titudes rather than fixed over time, can change later in life. This is a very promising finding that suggests that exposure to others’ circumstances can help shape behaviour,” Philipp said.

Green leafy vegetables may prevent fatty liver disease

LONDON: Eating green leafy veg-etables in larger portion daily may reduce the risk of developing fatty liver disease, suggests researchers in a mice study.

Fatty liver or liver steatosis is a common liver disease and the most important causes are overweight and high alcohol consumption.

Green leafy vegetables contain in-organic nitrate that can help prevent the accumulation of fat in the liver.

"When we supplemented with dietary nitrate to mice fed with a high-fat and sugar Western diet, we noticed a significantly lower propor-tion of fat in the liver," said Mattias Carlstrom, Associate Professor from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

"No one has yet focused on ni-trate, which we think is the key. We now want to conduct clinical stud-ies to investigate the therapeutic

value of nitrate supplementation to reduce the risk of liver steatosis," Carlstrom said.

The findings, published Proceed-ings of the National Academy of Sciences, also showed that a higher intake of fruit and vegetables has a beneficial effect on cardiovascular function and on diabetes.

Leafy vegetables and fruits also led to reduction of high blood pres-sure and improved insulin and glucose homeostasis in mice with Type-2 diabetes.

There is currently no approved treatment for the fatty liver disease, which can deteriorate into life-threatening conditions such as cir-rhosis or liver cancer.

The results could lead to the de-velopment of new pharmacologi-cal and nutritional approaches, the study said. (Agencies)

Not condoms or pills, but monthly shotsNEW DELHI: A once-a-month con-traceptive shot is set to give women more control over their bodies and prevent unwanted pregnancies, although the burden of contracep-tion will still fall largely on them as male condom usage and steriliza-tion have plunged.

While the use of condoms has declined 52% in eight years till 2016, vasectomy cases have fallen 73%, according to the health min-istry. The use of birth control pills has also dropped 39% between 2008-16.

That may change soon, with an expert group approving fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) of synthetic oestrogen and progesterone and medroxyprogesterone 25 mg and estradiol cypionate 5 mg injection. The contraceptive offers protec-tion to women of reproductive age when injected monthly.

The combination of oestrogen and progesterone was banned in August 1989. In 2017, an expert group under the chairmanship of the then director general the In-dian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Soumya Swaminathan, recommended that the Drug Con-

troller General of India (DCGI) remove the ban on the combined injectable contraceptive cyclofem (the combination of progesterone and oestrogen) so that it can be made commercially available.

In March 2018, the directorate general of health services (DGHS) constituted a sub-committee un-der the chairmanship of Dr Nilima Kshirsagar, national chair in clini-cal pharmacology at ICMR, to ex-amine the feasibility of lifting the ban on contraceptive cyclofem.

The expert committee found enough evidence about the safety and efficacy of the injectable FDC and recommended de-notification of the injectable preparation of synthetic oestrogen and progester-one as the country needs to expand choices of injectable contracep-tives available to Indian women.

“The issue of the need of this FDC was deliberated upon at great length. The experts opined that there is a need to provide more op-tions for long acting contraceptive agents to Indian women. This is in line with the government policy,” the expert committee said. Mint has reviewed the document.

09 | Wednesday | 19-12-2018

BusinessSENSEX

GOLD

J&K BANKNIFTY

SILVER

HDFC BANKAXIS BANKICICI BANK

36,347.08

31,950.00

DOLLAR POUNDKUWAITI DINAREURO YUAN SAUDI RIYAL71.61 82.58 238.13 91.36 10.48 19.31

36.0010,908.70

39,942.00

2,138.10618.80362.50

+77.01 (0.21%) +0.20 (0.56%)

+7.90 (0.37%)

+1.65 (0.27%)

+4.05 (1.13%)

+20.35 (0.19%)

55.00 ((99.9%)

38921.00

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi: Indicating that fur-ther simplification of the Goods and Services Tax is on the anvil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government wants to ensure that '99 percent things' attract sub-18 per cent GST slab.

Before implementation of the GST, registered enterprises only numbered 65 lakh, which has now risen by 55 lakh, Modi said, ad-dressing the Republic Summit here.

"Today, the GST system has been established to a large ex-tent and we are working towards a position where 99 per cent things will attract the sub-18 per cent GST slab," Modi said.

Modi indicated that the 28 percent slab of GST would only be restricted to a few select items, such as luxury goods.

The Prime Minister said the ef-fort will be to ensure that 99 per cent of all items, including al-most all items used by the com-mon man, would be kept at a GST slab of 18 per cent or less.

"We are of the opinion of mak-ing GST as smooth as possible for the enterprises," he said.

"In earlier days, the GST was framed according to the existing VAT or excise tax structures exer-cised in those respective states. (With) the discussions held from time to time, the tax system is getting improved," Modi said.

"The country was demanding GST for decades. I am pleased to say that GST implementation has removed contradictions in the trade market and efficiency of system is improving. The economy is also getting transpar-ent," Modi said. Even a small tax reform in developed countries is not easy, he said. Modi also spoke of his government's com-mitment to root out corruption.

"Corruption had been taken as a new normal in India. It was 'Chalta hai'. Whenever any-one used to speak up, someone would say, 'This is India. This is how it is'," Modi said.

"Why should it be like this," he said. When companies used to

be unable to repay loans, nothing used to happen to them and their owners, he said. "That is because since the start they had been given protection from probes by certain 'special people', he add-ed. Modi also dwelt on his gov-ernment's initiative to provide gas connections to households.

"Till 2014, only 55 per cent houses in the country had a gas connection. Imagine that. Our government is working towards finding permanent solutions and ending those practices that have held progress back for decades," he said. The work to build a New India is going on, he said.

Working to bring 99 % items in sub-18% GST slab: PM Modi


Srinagar - “J&K Bank staff is an amazing human resource to work with for the simple reason, i.e. they surpass expectations even while working under stressful and challenging situations and particularly since I assumed the highest Chair of the bank I have seen my 12000 plus dedicated staff accepting challenges, lever-aging opportunities and amazing the critics by the power of their sheer performance,“ J&K Bank Chairman and CEO Parvez Ahmed said on Tuesday He was speking at the ‘Felicitation Evening’ meant to compliment the Top Achievers of the bank who played outstanding roles in leading various marketing campaigns to enhance sales there-by achieving specific business tar-gets in retail loan categories like car loan, housing loan, and digital products besides third party prod-ucts like insurance.

“However, with fast-chang-ing times we must upgrade our knowledge system as an institu-tion, update our skill-sets and strengthen our frameworks to meet the upcoming challenges midway and ride over our great legacy towards becoming one of the best banks in global terms”, he added. The Chairman conferred ‘Honour Badges’ and ‘Letters of Appreciation’ upon 120 achiev-ers in presence of the bank’s Ex-ecutive Presidents P K Tickoo, R K Chhibber and Abdul Rashid Sheigan, Presidents, Vice Presi-dents, Zonal Heads and other of-ficers of the bank, amid rounds of applause in the jam-packed hall here at SKICC Srinagar. The bank’s strategy department along with other supporting teams was also complimented on the occasion for successful planning and manage-ment of these campaigns.

The Chairman struck a deep emotional chord with the audi-ence when he responded to the feelings expressed by one of the recipients by saying, “It is truly my privilege to shake hands with the top achievers here today. For it gives me a nice and wonderful feeling worth preserving beyond these moments of mutual celebra-tion.” Expressing himself on the occasion, Chairman said, “While taking a fleeting survey of this hall studded with J&K Bank star performers I find it a wonderful sight to watch. It soothes my eyes besides reaffirming my faith in the human capital of our bank.”

“I believe that you are well on your way of taking this institution

to greater heights”, he added.Stressing upon the need to cre-

ate a culture of acknowledgment and appreciation within the or-ganisation, he urged the partici-pants to understand that every individual's act was a call to atten-tion and acknowledgment.

“Recognition and appreciation are at the core of our yearnings as humans. We feel, we think and we act for this very intrinsic need of ours. That is why recognition is vital to bring out the best in us.

Once we recognize and appreci-ate the efforts of our teams every day within the bank, a strong and certain positivity will burst forth reflecting upon everywhere with-in and outside the organisation. And positivity must become our inalienable virtue as members of J&K Bank family”, Chairman said adding, “The challenges emerg-ing from the ecosystem need to be channelized in a positive way so as to augment our endeav-ours further in meeting the busi-ness objectives.” Reiterating his customer-centric approach, he expounded it further saying, “At the heart of our task lies a great motto that we ‘Serve to Empower’ and that our services need to be the best available in the market. These words need to translate into action every day while serving our customers.” Congratulating the awardees, EP P K Tickoo said, “I congratulate all the achievers and it is heartening to see a good num-ber of them achieving and even surpassing their targets. The cam-paigns were launched so that the staff focuses upon digital delivery channels with the best available features.” Speaking on the occa-sion, EP R K Chhibber said, “Let me compliment the colleagues who are overseeing the func-tion at operative level and all the star performers for achieving the specified targets. After seeing the results of all these campaigns we are sure to achieve all the set busi-ness and other targets.”

While complimenting the achievers EP Abdul Rashid Sheigan said, “Complimenting the achiev-ers is part of a vision to keep mo-tivation levels of the staff high. Carrying forward such campaigns successfully also encourage the management to entrust further and higher responsibilities to the staff across various hierarchies.”

Earlier, President Rakesh Gan-dotra delivered the inaugural ad-dress at the function.

“This event is the way to recog-

nize the potential of our dedicat-ed workforce. I am hopeful that such initiatives by the bank shall encourage more to perform better and achieve their targets”, he said.

The awardees expressed great satisfaction over getting felicitat-ed by the Chairman and CEO him-self. “We feel delighted to have been conferred this badges-of-honor and letters-of-appreciation by our worthy chairman in per-son. More so, we are honoured to be the audience to such a candid, open and warm address from our highest leadership”, echoed the visibly elated participants.

Pertinently, to enhance sales and further the spirit of sales-manship among the employees, the Bank had launched the mar-keting campaigns like Employee Delight Fest – Car Loan, Housing Loan– Ghar Ghar Khushiyan, and Digital Banking – The better way to the bank, Eid Wheel Of-fer and November Delight- Life Insurance mobilization drive. On the occasion, four audiovi-sual presentations were made detailing the campaigns, objec-tives and the results achieved during the campaigns.

The function concluded with the vote of thanks presented by the bank’s President Arun Gan-dotra, who thanked the Chair-man for gracing the function and expressed gratitude to the entire management and the awardees for their active presence on the occasion.

J&K Bank confers ‘Honour Badges’ upon its Top AchieversRecognition is vital to bring out the best in us: Parvez Ahmed


New Delhi: The Cabinet on Monday approved amending the existing laws such that linking of the Aad-haar number with mobile numbers and bank accounts will be optional, sources said. The Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ap-proved amendments to the Telegraph Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after the Su-preme Court in September barred the mandatory use of the 12-digit unique identifier by private firms.

“Private entities using Aadhaar as a KYC (know your customer) document will have to ensure safety and privacy of the Aadhaar data,” a source said. Sources said the two Acts will be amended to provide for voluntary sharing of the biometric ID for obtaining new mobile phone connections and for the opening of bank accounts. The changes in the relevant sections of the Tele-graph Act and PMLA will be effected through the original Aadhaar Act.

A bill in this regard could be moved in the ongoing Winter Ses-sion of Parliament and would clarify that the changes in the two Acts are being made through the principal Aadhaar law. Under the amend-ments, an Aadhaar holder can opt for offline verification through QR code and will not require to share ac-tual Aadhaar number. The Supreme Court had struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act that made seeding of the biometric ID with SIMs and bank accounts mandatory, saying it had no legal backing.

To overcome this lacuna, the Tele-graph Act is being amended to pro-vide legal backing for the issuance of mobile SIMs through Aadhaar.

Similarly, the amendment to the PMLA will give individuals option to link their bank accounts to Aad-

haar in the KYC option. Under the amendments, the government has proposed an imprisonment of up to 10 years for attempting to hack Aad-haar data. Currently, the punishment for this offence is 3 years.

Sources further said a child who has been enrolled for Aadhaar through his/her parents will have an option to opt out of Aadhaar data base after attaining age of 18 years.

Also, action will be taken against accountable individuals in case

they deny any service for want of Aadhaar, as per the proposed amendments. The apex court in a landmark judgment had held consti-tutional validity of Aadhaar for the distribution of state-sponsored wel-fare subsidies but ruled that it can-not be made mandatory for opening bank accounts or providing mobile-phone connections. The ruling fol-lowed petitions by activists and law-yers citing privacy concerns.

Conceptualised under the previ-ous UPA regime in 2009, under the extraordinary Aadhaar programme provides for giving every resident a biometric ID by assigning a unique 12-digit identification number after collecting their biometric data and photographs. It was envisioned as a cost-saving tool that could improve the delivery of services and subsidies to poor by eliminating bogus benefi-ciaries and checking diversions.

Cabinet okay changes to make Aadhaar optional for mobile numbers, bank accounts


JAMMU, DECEMBER 18: The Gov-ernor’s Administration today or-dered constitution of an official panel for screening of available projects and identification of new projects in tourism sector to be im-plemented under Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP).

According to an order issued

by the General Administration Department (GAD), the commit-tee shall be headed by the Ad-ministrative Secretary, Planning, Development & Monitoring De-partment. The members of the Committee includeAdministra-tive Secretary Forest, Environ-ment & Ecology Department, Administrative Secretary, Tour-ism Department and Director

Tourism, Jammu/Kashmir.The Committee shall complete

the exercise of screening and identification of projects by the end of this month. Pertinently, Rs 2000 crore have been ear-marked in Rs 80000 crore PMDP for development of new tourist circuits and tourism infrastruc-ture in the State over a period of 5 years.

Official panel to identify new tourism projects under PMDP


New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) A fresh cadre review and restructuring of the Income Tax Department has been ordered by the government with an aim to create a "caring but strict" direct taxes regime in the country. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the I-T Department, on Monday ordered creation of a 12-member committee of senior officials to accomplish the task within the next three months. The development assumes sig-nificance as another committee or task force to draft a new direct tax law to replace the existing Income Tax Act is already a work in progress and it has been asked by the government to submit its report by February 28. The new committee to undertake cadre review and restructuring of the department has been given a spe-cific four-point charter to follow.

A copy of the terms of refer-ence of the committee has been accessed by PTI and it said the panel will suggest ways to "or-ganise the I-T Department in a manner which will further pro-mote compliance with direct tax laws through caring tax payer service and strict enforcement." It will also "accordingly make ad-vance projections of man power requirement and propose ap-propriate modifications in the extant organisational structure within the frame work of the government guidelines so as to facilitate filling up all the posts in the department in a time bound manner." The committee, chaired by Delhi-based Principal Director General of Income Tax, S K Dash, will also suggest ways to "bring

about rationalisation of the or-ganisational structure for en-hancing the effectiveness of the department through improved efficiency and morale of its work-force." The CBDT said the motive of the entire cadre review and restructuring exercise is to "en-able and equip the department to meet challenges of today and to-morrow." The last cadre restruc-turing of the department was carried out by the government in 2013 that led to the creation of 20,751 posts in various ranks. The exercise also gave the taxman the apex administrative pay scales of the central government for its top brass. Officials said the lat-est exercise was finalised by the government after a lot of delib-erations and keeping in mind two main ideas-- vacancies in the post of Assistant Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners that are to be filed by cadre officers of the department and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea of creating a regime where tax officials are friendly to honest taxpayers, end the fear of the taxman and make India a more tax compliant soci-ety. "It is expected that the new direct tax law and cadre restruc-turing can be ushered in together so that the new system takes over with uniformity and in one go. However, the committee on cad-re review and restructuring will only recommend its proposals and the government and the fi-nance ministry will take the final call on what to pick and what to leave," a senior official said. The CBDT has directed that the com-mittee shall submit its report to it "within a period of three months from the date of issuance of the order (December 17, 2018)."

Govt orders cadre review, restructuring of I-T dept; committee formed


New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday said the government did not seek resig-nation of Urjit Patel as RBI Governor over differences on some issues, and went on to cite how central bank heads were made to resign under prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and when Yash-want Sinha was finance minister.

Defending his government's de-mands from the Reserve Bank to address certain issues including liquidity or fund problem in cer-tain sectors, he said that there is no threat to the autonomy of the cen-tral bank. Patel, who was brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-government in 2016 after a second term was denied to outspoken for-mer IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan, in a surprise move resigned as RBI Governor on December 11. Many blamed the pressure brought by the government on the central bank to ease lending restrictions and release more of its capital to bolster the economy for Patel's resignation.

"Sarkar ki unse koi istife ki apek-sha nahi thi (The government did not seek Patel's resignation)," Jaitley said

when asked about Patel's resigna-tion at 'Agenda Aaj Tak' programme here. The government had cited the never-used-before provision of the RBI Act that gives it powers to is-sue directions to the Governor, to get the central bank to discuss its areas of concerns. Two board meet-ings after that were "cordial" and decisions were taken on three-four issues while there were also some on which no decision was taken, he said, adding the issue of paring of some of RBI's over Rs 9 lakh crore reserves after deciding on an appro-priate size of buffer was decided to be referred to an expert committee.

While the committee was decid-ed to be formed in the RBI board meeting held on November 19, a consensus on the composition eluded till Patel resigned. Jaitley said the expert committee would be announced in few days time.

"So if you are saying that raising these issues is an infringement on autonomy, this is wrong," he said.

He then went on to cite past RBI governors who had resigned.

"The first governor to resign (was in) 1955 when (Prime Minister) Pt Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to Gover-nor B Rama Rau (that) economic

policy is to be framed by Govern-ment of India (and) monetary pol-icy is to be framed by you. But your other policies like credit policies have to be in support of the govern-ment's economic policies. And if are suggesting you would resign, 'I am unable to advise you to the con-trary'. So he resigned," he said.

Indira Gandhi got Sarukkai Jagan-nathan to resign after he refused to give an enhanced loan to Maruti.

"Yashwant Sinha, who became the high priest of RBI autonomy, during the Chandra Shekhar government called (RBI) Governor R N Malhotra and said I want your resignation," he added. Former finance minister P Chidambaram, Jaitley said, was "not on speaking terms with two Gover-

nors during his tenure."Many central banks around the

world maintain 8 per cent of gross assets as reserves while conservative ones maintain at 13-14 per cent. RBI maintains it at 28 per cent, Jaitley said. "In 2013 they said that you have Rs 1.46 lakh crore in excess you give. Then no one said that it is raiding the Reserve Bank," he said, adding reserves released can be used for in-fusing capital in public sector banks as well as for schemes for the benefit of poor. "I don't need these funds for funding fiscal deficit, or govern-ment expenditure for this year till the month of May. I don't need even one rupee," he said and cited a let-ter written by Rajan as the chief eco-nomic advisor of the government in 2013 to RBI asking how much capital did it require. "My government has the best fiscal record and even this year we will maintain the fiscal defi-cit. And therefore to maintain fiscal deficit I don't need that kind of mon-ey," he said. On charges that the final straw in Patel's strained two-year term was the appointment of S Gu-rumurthy on the RBI Board, he said when the BJP came to power, a then Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament of the Congress party was a member

of the board of the central bank.He, however, did not name the

member. "Today the tragedy is, I have had the best relation with two Governors (Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel). I still am in active com-munication with both of them, even post-exit from RBI," he said.

The finance minister said the gov-ernment flagged the liquidity and credit issues facing some sectors to the RBI. "If growth is suffering then I have to go to the autonomous body and say this is your jurisdiction, there has been a problem, please solve the problem. How is that an in-terference on autonomy?" he asked.

"Reserve Bank is autonomous. There is no threat to its autonomy," he said. "The government is sover-eign. An elected government has to reply to people, businesses. RBI does not have to reply (to them)."

The government, Jaitley said, would be failing in its duty if it does not use all instruments at its com-mand to inform the central bank about the real problems. It would be completely incorrect for anybody to suggest that the government flag-ging this issue is an infringement of autonomy. We are not taking over the function," he said.

Govt did not ask for Urjit Patel's resignation as RBI Guv: Jaitley


Mumbai: The benchmark Sensex wiped off early losses to end 77 points higher at 36,347, the sixth consecutive session of gains, after fag-end buying mainly in pharma, metal and capital goods stocks offset losses in informa-tion technology and FMCG coun-ters amid weak global cues. Also, the broader NSE Nifty ended above the 10,900-mark. The BSE Sensex swung almost 329 points both sides on hectic selling and buying during the session. The 30-share index started off the day lower at 36,226.38 and continued to slide as selling pressure gath-ered momentum and hit a low of 36,046.52 in line with a weak trend in Asian markets and lower opening of European shares.

However, hectic buying in late afternoon trade reversed the day's losses and helped the Sensex scale 36,375.38 before settling 77.01 points, or 0.21 per cent, higher at 36,347.08. The gauge had risen over 1,310

points in the last five sessions. The 50-share NSE Nifty too rose by 20.35 points, or 0.19 per cent, to end at 10,908.70. Intra-day, it traded between 10,819.10 and 10,915.40. Traders said falling crude prices in the global market was a big boost for the economy as it cuts the country's import bill burden. The appreciation in the rupee too influenced market mood. Globally, stocks slipped into the red tracking overnight sharp losses at the Wall Street as investors continued to fear weakening growth amid cau-tion ahead of the US Federal Re-serve's two-day meeting, begin-ning Tuesday.

The US Federal Reserve's policy decision is expected on Decem-ber 19 and the market is expect-ing another rate hike, traders said. According to provisional data, domestic institutional in-vestors sold shares worth a net of Rs 76.84 crore, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 60.95 crore on Monday.

Sensex rallies for 6th session in a row pharma metal stocks shine

Wednesday | 19-12-2018 10

FROM FRONT PAGE

NewsCentre directs states to make all govt buildings tobacco freeUnion health ministry has written to all state government that the ministry is ready to extend any technical support if required for the initiativeNEW DELHI: Union health ministry has directed all States to make government buildings and offices “Tobacco Free” in order to protect public health. Health sec-retary Preeti Sudan has written to all State Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of all government departments that the minis-try is ready to extend any technical sup-port if required for the initiative.

“Tobacco use is highly detrimental to health. It is a major risk factor for Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD), diabetes, chronic lung disease, stroke, infertility, blindness, Tuberculosis (TB) and oral cav-ity etc. To protect non-users from involun-tary exposure to tobacco smoke, smoking in public place which includes all public offices, workplaces, canteen etc, it has been banned under Section 4 of the Ciga-rettes and other Tobacco products (prohi-

bition of Advertisement and Regulations of Trade and Commerce Production, Sup-ply and Distribution) Act (COTPA), 2003,” Sudan said in the letter.

The ministry of health and family wel-fare housed in Nirman Bhawan has al-ready taken this initiative and issued a circular for banning use of any form of tobacco in the building. Smoking end spit-ting of tobacco in the premise of Nirman Bhawan is prohibited and is a punishable offence.

“Thus, in the interest of public health and with a view to keep the building clean, contributing towards the “Swachch Bharat Swastha Bharat” campaign, the ini-tiative was taken,” Sudan said.

The government has said that the harm-ful effects of tobacco use are well estab-lished and accepted globally. The use of

tobacco is a prominent risk factor for 6 to 8 leading causes of death and almost 40% of the Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) including cancers, heart diseases and lung disorders are attributable to to-bacco use. The number of deaths every year in lndia which is attributable to to-bacco use is 8-9 lakhs.

Government further said that spitting of tobacco leads to spread of swine flu, tu-berculosis, and pneumonia and gastro-in-testinal diseases. TB Bacilli can survive in spit tor an entire day which causes health problems to the public and nuisance to the public in general.

The Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Prod-ucts Act (COTPA), enacted in 2003 and ap-plicable to the entire country, was mainly to discourage the consumption of ciga-rettes and other tobacco products by im-

posing progressive restrictions and public to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. The implementation of COTPA is best done when the system/mechanism is institutionalized.

Section (4) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Adver-tisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce Production, Supply and Distri-bution) Act COTPA 2003 prohibits smok-ing in all public places. ‘Public Place’ is defined as any place to which the public has access whether as of right or not and includes all places visited by general pub-lic namely auditorium, hospital building, railway waiting room, amusement cen-ters, public offices, court buildings, educa-tional institutions, libraries, coffee houses, canteens, banks, clubs and also open spac-es surrounding hotels/restaurants etc.

Guv Reviews Valleycounter infiltration and counter militancy op-

erations undertaken recently,” he said, adding,” He reiterated the vital importance of the laid down Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) be-ing adhered to by Army and all Security Forces to avoid incidents of civilian casualties and collateral damages.”

He also re-emphasized the crucial importance of sustained collaborative action between the Armed Forces and the State Police with the civil administration in dealing with difficult situations particularly to ensure against the loss of civilian lives, the spokesman said.

Governor stressed the need of a heightened vigil and ensuring the safety of protected persons and the security of all important establishments and installations, the spokesman said and added: “He lauded the role played by the security forces in the incident free conduct of polls to the Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats.”

The meeting was attended by senior officers of the State, Police, Army, Central Police Forces, and Central Intelligence Agencies. Among others, the meeting was attended by K. Vijay Kumar, Advi-sor to Governor; Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, Northern Army Commander; B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbagh Singh, Director General of Police; Lt. Gen. A.K. Bhat, GoC 15 Corps; Lt. Gen. Paramjit Singh, GOC 16 Corps; Lt. Gen. YVK Mo-han, GoC 9 Corps; Umang Narula, Principal Secre-tary to Governor; R.K. Goyal, Principal Secretary Home; B Srinivas ADGP CID; Muneer Khan, ADGP, Security and Law and Order; A.V. Chouhan, IG, CRPF; Abhinav Kumar, IG BSF Kashmir; Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; and SDS Jamwal, IGP Jammu.

Barring Southparts of Kashmir, including in the central and the northern districts, officials said.

They added that shops, offices, fuel stations and other business establishments opened Tuesday morning and normal traffic was witnessed on the roads here in the summer capital of the state.

The officials said many areas in four districts of south Kashmir, however, witnessed a shutdown.

Classes have been suspended in most colleges in the valley, including the Kashmir University and the Islamic University of Science and Tech-nology (IUST), as a precautionary measure.

The IUST has postponed examinations that were scheduled to be held Tuesday.

Mobile internet was restored in the valley, ex-cept in four districts of south Kashmir, on Monday night. However, net speed in Srinagar has been downgraded, the officials said.

They said the decision to restore high-speed services in Srinagar and mobile internet in south Kashmir would be taken later after assessing the situation.

Seven civilians died Saturday when security forces opened fire at a mob that had thronged the site of an encounter in Pulwama district in which three militants and an Army man were killed.

PDP MP ProtestsMohammad Fayaz on Tuesday protested out Parliament against weekend’s recent civilian killings in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

Mir hails from north Kashmir’s Kupwara dis-trict, and is a sitting Member of Parliament in the upper house or Rajya Sabha.

“There should be immediate halt on the kill-ings in Kashmir. One militant is killed, three other youths are picking up gun. Civilians are be-ing killed and maimed which is unacceptable to humanitarian state. We are trying to be a welfare state and no country can win war against own people by killing them,” Mir said.

Wearing a white T-shirt inscribed with ‘Stop Bloodshed in Kashmir’ and ‘Stop Killings in Kash-mir’, the member parliament held a protest inside Parliament near Mahatma Gandhi statue.

On Saturday, seven civilians were killed after the government forces opened fire on protesters following a gunfight that left three militants and a soldier dead.

“We as nation must rise to the occasion and stop shedding blood of innocents. World over dialogue and reconciliation are tested methods of finds solutions to problems and Jammu and Kashmir should not be an exception,” Mir said and underlined need for “positive” response to Prime Minister of Pakistan’s offer by “our Prime Minister.”

“Pakistan Prime Minister has underscored that India and Pakistan should sit together and find a solution to Kashmir issue. His call needs a posi-tive response,” he said, adding, “We have seen that countries who were at loggerheads with each other until yesterday are friends today and there is no reason that India and Pakistan should con-tinue with animosity forever. Rather they should sit together and find a solution to Kashmir issue once and for all for sake of humanity.”

Pak's Senate PassesThe President said that peace in the region will

remain elusive without resolution of the Kashmir issue.

UN Passes Rightmilitary intervention in and occupation of for-eign countries and territories, as well as acts of repression, discrimination and maltreatment.

The resolution, co-sponsored by a record num-ber of 83 countries, was recommended by the 193-member Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with social, humanitarian and cultural is-sues.

"The resolution reaffirms the inviolability of the right to self-determination for all peoples without exception, including, of course, the peo-ple of Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine," Paki-stan's Ambassador to the UN, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, who is currently in Islamabad, said in a phone interview with APP.

Under the terms of the text, the General As-sembly reaffirmed the universal realisation of the rights of all peoples, including those under colonial, foreign and alien domination, to self-determination as a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights.

"Pakistan has historically been a proud cham-pion of self-determination," Ambassador Lodhi said.

"Our support for the right of people to self-de-termination against alien domination and foreign occupation remains undiminished.”

The resolution declared the General Assembly's firm opposition to acts of foreign military inter-vention, aggression and occupation, since these have resulted in suppression of the right of peo-ple to self-determination and other human rights in certain parts of the world.

The Assembly deplored the plight of millions of refugees and displaced persons who have been uprooted as a result of these acts and reaffirmed their right to return to their homes voluntarily with safety and honour.

It also requested the Human Rights Council to give special attention to the violation of human rights, especially the right to self-determination, resulting from foreign military intervention, ag-gression or occupation.

It also requested the Secretary-General to re-port to the next Session of the General Assembly on this question.

2 More Leadersme but I am not ready to remain in the party

keeping in view the alienation of people from the party at grassroot level,” said Hussian.

On Tuesday evening, PDP vice president Abdul Rehman Veeri said the party has expelled Hussain and Basharat Bukhari from the basic membership of the party “on charges of anti-party activities”. The party also removed Mehboob Iqbal from the general secretary position.

Earlier, in a major revolt faced by Ms. Mufti, three MLAs, Abid Ansari, Imran Ansari and Ab-bas Wani, quit the party. Of which, two joined the Peoples Conference (PC).

Two MLCs, Yasir Reshi and Saifuddin Bhat, also distanced themselves from the party. MLC Reshi also joined Lone’s PC. The architect of the PDP-BJP alliance, Hasseb Drabu, a PDP leader who served as State finance minister, also left the party after differences with Ms. Mufti over latter dropping him from the council of ministers.

Sources in the NC said the expelled senior lead-ers, Hussain and Bukhari, would formally join the party on Wednesday in the presence of NC Vice President Omar Abdullah in Srinagar.

Withdrawing SubsidyFood, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and from

next year, the department would not be supplying even to BPL and AAY categories.

Farooq Abdullah while expressing his dismay over withdrawing sugar subsidy said that it will adversely affect the poor and have not’s. “It is an anti-people move and will put extra burden on daily wagers and economically challenged class of our society. The PDP-BJP government soon after it came to power took no time to do away with the subsidy on rice and cooking gas. An APL consumer had to pay less than Rs 1000 per quintal but af-ter the subsidy was removed by the then BJP-PDP government, consumers are paying Rs 1500 per quintal,” he said.

Farooq said that in view of the move to do away with the subsidy on sugar, salaried class people will be severely affected by adding the burden of expenditure on them. “People are already pay-ing heavily for cooking gas and rice. The food bill that was introduced into our state during BJP-PDP regime has already hit the consumers very hard. The subsidy on cooking gas also stands with-drawn,” he said.

He maintained that the conflict situation has already put people under duress and that the small business has already received a bolt. “This anti-people move of doing away with the subsidy on sugar will affect more than seventy lac con-sumers,” he said.

“It is highly unfortunate that the quota of kero-sene oil that the state used to receive has already been dwindled down. The state now receives a nominal supply,” he added.

Dr Farooq asserted that the Naya Kashmir man-ifesto espoused a socialistic pattern of society. “It

is the prime duty of government to lend a help-ing hand to the poor sections of the society by giving subsidized commodities to ensure people a strain-free life,” he said adding, “It was during our times that subsidized Apna stores were estab-lished throughout the state. We in national con-ference strongly feel that such a move will push the already aggrieved and aggravated people to wall.”

He said while censuring the governor admin-istration of not halting anti-people moves said, “I impress upon the governor administration to roll back the move of ending subsidy. Such a move will hurt the people especially poor,” he said.

25000 CRPFbody and panchayat elections, in the State.

“162 companies (each company has around 80-100 personnel) of CAPFs deployed in September 2018 shall continue in the State for maintaining law and order. 238 companies of CAPFs who were deployed in March-April shall stand de-attached from J&K by deploying fresh 88 companies… a to-tal of 250 companies of shall be available in J&K for the said purpose,” the Ministry order said.

The Panchayat elections ended last week. Of the 2,135 halqas in the Valley, no candidate stood in 708 of them, meaning they remain vacant. An-other 699 halqas each had a single candidate who won unopposed. This means 1,407 halqas saw no contest at all.

The four South Kashmir districts of Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag and Pulwama posted the low-est turnouts. Shopian and Pulwama, in fact, saw no polling at all. Kulgam had no polling in 99% of halqas and no candidate for 87% of its sarpanch posts. Anantnag saw no contest in 76% of its halqas.

Governor Ruleapproved imposition of President’s rule in the

State. With the imposition of President’s rule in the

State, the powers of Legislature which were vest-ed with the Governor for six months during the Governor’s rule, will shift to Parliament, where ruling NDA doesn’t command majority in Rajya Sabha. However, it has majority in Lok Sabha.

Apart from the powers of legislation, major fi-nancial powers will also shift to the Parliament, official sources said, pointing out that it was in this context that the Governor had approved the State budget for financial year 2019-20.

President’s proclamation will declare that the powers of the Legislature of the State shall be ex-ercisable by or under the authority of Parliament, which was till now vested with the Governor of J&K.

“As Jammu and Kashmir has a separate Consti-tution, in such cases, six months of Governor’s rule is compulsory under Article 92 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, under which all the Legis-lature powers are vested with the Governor. The powers shift to the Parliament only after imposi-tion of President’s rule in the State,” sources said.

The State Government had to work hard to get the budget approved before December 19 as the powers to pass the budget would have shifted to the Parliament during President’s rule. The Par-liament has been facing repeated adjournments in the winter session, which is scheduled to con-clude on January 8.

Governors Rule V/sthere is breakdown in the constitutional ma-

chinery in a particular state under Article 356 of the Constitution. The legislature of the state con-cerned is either put into suspended animation or is dissolved. The President exercises his rule through the Governor of the state.

Governor's Rule, however, only applies to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. This is because J&K has a separate constitution altogether. Failure of constitutional machinery in J&K results in Gov-ernor's rule, imposed by invoking Section 92 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir. The proclamation is issued by the J&K Governor after obtaining the consent of the President of India.

However, Governor's Rule must be officially re-voked/cancelled within 6 months of imposition. Else, President's Rule under Article 356 of the In-dian Constitution is imposed in J&K

HC Seeks Responseofficer needed to be appointed as Food

Safety Commissioner to make the depart-ment more vibrant and effective.

With these submissions, the court asked the amicus to respond to the status report of the Government and indicate what are the deficiencies and steps needed to be taken to curb the menace of food adultera-tion in the state.

The Food Safety Commissioner J& in his latest report submitted before the court stated that 2371 food samples were tested during the current financial year in 21 dis-tricts of the state wherein 637

samples were found to be of substan-dard quality and 1734 food samples were found of standard quality.

“17134 inspections were carried out in the current year and registered food estab-lishments were found as 82305.The num-

ber of prosecutions launched are 654 in which civil are 403 and criminal 7

further 466 cases have been decided and pen-alty amount of rupees 45,25,700 was imposed upon the defaulters”, FSC’s report reads. So far, he said, awareness among the public with regard to adulterated and contaminated food FSC was con-ducted on large scale and 244 street vendors were imparted training for food hygiene, food handling and maintaining sanitary conditions of their carts.

Warming LeadsLonnie Thompson, a climate scientist at Ohio State

University.Researchers showed that while water supply

is declining, demand is rising because of growing populations.

The glaciers in Peru supply critically needed water for people, crops and livestock.

In 2016, researchers in China and India launched a research initiative to conduct simi-lar research on the Tibetan plateau, which holds thousands of glaciers that supply water to people in parts of Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, India, Ne-pal, Pakistan and Tajikistan.

The international research team dubbed the plateau the "Third Pole" because it contains the largest stores of freshwater in the world outside of the North and South poles.

Since then, they have drilled ice core samples from across the Tibetan plateau and the Andes mountains, examining the ice for clues about temper-ature, air quality and other large-scale events in history.

"The last 200 years or so, we really understand. Now we are looking at the last 10,000 years," said Thompson.

There have been times throughout history when the glacial ice cores showed temperatures increased -- dur-ing an El Nino, for example.

However, within the last century, the cores from both the Andes and the Himalayas show widespread and consistent warming.

"This current warming is not typical," Thompson said. "It is happening faster, it is more persistent and it is affecting glaciers in both Peru and India. And that is a problem, because a lot of people rely on those glaciers for their water," he said.

Melting glaciers can trigger such hazards as avalanches and floods. They also can have long-lasting effects on a region's water supply.

As the glaciers melt, initially those regions will have more water. However, over time, as the gla-ciers shrink, the water those glaciers typically supply will dwindle, Thompson said.

"Precipitation is down and temperatures are up and that leads to retreating glaciers," he added.

"There are 202 million people in Pakistan who rely on water from the Indus River -- and that river is fed by the glacier," Thompson said.

The effects in Peru, too, could be far-reaching, particularly on Peruvian agriculture and on the water supply in Lima, the Peruvian capital.

Researchers are hoping that by studying the glaciers in both areas, they will find answers to slow glacial retreat -- or to provide new water sources to at-risk areas.

Winter Vacation In observe winter vacations from December 24 to

February 11, 2019. Vacations will be observed in colleges in Jammu division from January 7, 2019 to January 16, 2019. However, colleges falling in winter zone of Jammu division will observe vacations from 01 January to 19 February, reads the order.

‘Demonetization, GSTcouple of year’s disturbances,

political developments, major economic disturbances due to devastating floods of 2014, de-monetisation and introduction of GST. As a result, trade and business and other economic ac-tivities have not fully recovered and picked up as expected.”

The Budget statement also claimed that period after the fall of PDP-BJP government has been of relative calm and devel-opmental activities have sub-

stantially picked up. The popular government headed by the Peo-

ples Democratic Party's Mehbooba Mufti fell when its partner BJP pulled out of the ruling co-alition on June 16.

“After the fall of Elected Government in June, 2018, the State has been under the Governor’s Rule. This phase has been a period of relative calm and developmental activities have substan-tially picked up,” reads the Budget statement.”

In November 2016, the Demonetisation had made 86 per cent of existing currency (in de-nominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000) illegal ten-der.

The Budget, as per the governor administra-tion, is based on two key principles underscored by the Governor: (a) Mission delivering develop-ment and (b) Mission good governance.

Regarding implementation of the 7th pay Commission recommendations for government employees including payment of arrears , the Budget statement said this has caused an esti-mated additional burden on the State Exchequer to the tune of Rs.9000.00 crores.

“Long pending issue of stagnation of KAS and KPS Officers have been addressed. Similarly, induction from various feeding services to the KAS particularly in the case of Secretariat Non-gazetted

service has also been addressed,” it said, add-ing, “Approximately, 27000 posts have been cre-ated to regularise the teachers recruited through Rehbar-eTaleem (ReT) and Sarwa Shiksha Abhi-yan (SSA). This measure alone will cost the State exchequer an additional burden of Rs.1000.00 crores.”

The employees, the budget statement said, will certainly recognise that for the first time their salaries, GPF and other benefits are being paid to them in time despite meagre resources available with the State of its own.

“It is expected that the employees will contin-ue to work hard with zeal and passion to imple-ment the Government policies and programmes by way of delivering the services to the public in a time bound manner and with a great sense of professionalism and integrity,” it added.

Leopard kills The big cat ventured into Jamlan village from the

nearby forest Monday evening, pounced on Wasim Akram when he was outside his house and dragged him away, the officials said. They said the locals, aid-ed by police teams, chased the leopard but only man-aged to recover the half-eaten body of the victim.

The mutilated body was handed over to the family of the deceased after completion of legal formalities, the officials said. They said the inci-dent triggered panic among residents who staged a protest against the Wildlife department for al-leged failure to take necessary measures to avoid such killings. A team of wildlife officials have also reached the village and joined the search teams comprising locals and police personnel, the of-ficials said, adding that multiple traps have been laid at a number of places to capture the leopard.

Indian Released From Pakactivists and officials.Stepping on to the Indian side, the 33-year-old

along with his family knelt down and touched the soil of his motherland with their foreheads.

Wednesday | 19-12-2018 11SPORTS

“IT’S GREAT TO WIN THE $9 MILLION but I just don’t want to lose to him and give him the satisfaction because the bragging rights are what is going to be even worse than the money,” Mickelson

MESSI CLAIMS RECORD 5TH

GOLDEN SHOE

Lionel Messi collected a record fifth Golden Shoe award on Tuesday for finishing last season as the top goal-scorer in Europe. The striker scored

34 goals in 68 games for Barcelona, putting him ahead of Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Tottenham's Harry Kane. Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award four times, hit 26 goals in 52 matches for Real Madrid. After being prsented with his latest prize in Barcelona, Messi said: "The truth is I had no idea this would happen when I started. I dreamt of playing professional football and enjoying success, I love the game, but I never imagined I would have so much.

"I enjoy the work, the effort, I'm at the best team in the world and play with the best team-mates in the world, so everything is easier." The ceremony was attended by Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, as well as fellow players like Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto. Messi also discussed Mon-day's Champions League draw, which pitted Barca against Lyon in the round of 16.

"Lyon will be a complicated opponent," Messi said. "Even if they are not known as one of the strongest teams, they are danger-ous as they showed against Manchester City, one of the best teams in the world.

"It will be difficult to go through, but the opportunity is there for us. We have several Frenchmen in the team like Samuel Umtiti and Malcom, who played in France, so per-haps they can help as well."

AFP

"IT WILL BE difficult to go through, but the opportunity

is there for us. We have several Frenchmen in the team like Samuel Umtiti

and Malcom, who played in France, so perhaps they can

help as well."

LIONEL MESSI HIT 34 GOALS IN 68 GAMES for Barcelona last season

AFP/File / Oli SCARFF

Manchester United sacked manager Jose Mourinho on Tuesday after the club's worst

start to a season in nearly three decades. Mourinho, 55, became increasingly spiky in his last few months at Old Trafford, lashing out at the board's transfer policy and turning his fire on his squad, especially record signing Paul Pogba. His constant complaints about the players' lack of desire had an impact on the pitch, cul-minating in the 3-1 defeat by Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday which left United 19 points behind their opponents.

Mourinho's sacking comes just two-and-a-half years into his tenure and three years and a day since Chelsea sacked him just months after he had guided them to the title. Reports said United will name a caretaker manager in the next 48 hours. The club's worst start in the league since 1990 means even Mourinho's am-bition of finishing in the top four and a Champions League qualifi-cation spot is in danger.

Despite United reaching the Champions League knockout stages, where they face an intimi-dating last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain, a combination of poor results, dressing-room discord and criticism of the board proved potent factors in the decision to dismiss the Portuguese manager.

A United source told AFP that Mourinho had been supported in his efforts to sign players and de-scribed reports of player power at the club as being key to the sacking as wide of the mark. United will reportedly have to pay Mourinho £22.5 million ($28.5 million) -- as the club are still in the Champions League -- to sever the ties.

"Manchester United announces that manager Jose Mourinho has left the club with immediate ef-fect," a club statement said.

"The club would like to thank Jose for his work during his time at Manchester United and to wish him success in the future. "A new caretaker manager will be ap-pointed until the end of the current

season, while the club conducts a thorough recruitment process for a new, full-time manager."

- 'Outstanding candidate' -In the longer term former Real

Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has been linked to the club as has his fellow 1998 World Cup-winning team-mate Laurent Blanc, who played for United. Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Po-chettino is also strongly tipped.

One bookmaker makes Pochet-tino the early favourite and the 46-year-old Argentinian is also former Manchester United mid-fielder Gary Neville's favoured option. "They need someone who meets the three key principles of that football club: the promotion of youth, entertaining football and to win football matches,"

Neville told Sky Sports News."People suggest he (Pochettino)

hasn't won a trophy yet at Tot-tenham but with a net spend of minus £29 million or something over the last four years, I'm not sure he could have done more.

"I do think he is the person who is the outstanding candidate."

Mourinho's reign had started well enough with the League Cup and the Europa League trophies but for a club that has been cham-pions of England 20 times, neigh-bours Manchester City's domi-nance over them in the league has hurt. The wound went even deeper for Mourinho as City are managed by Pep Guardiola, who got the better of him when he was in charge at Barcelona and Mourinho was at Real Madrid.

Despite his protestations to the contrary, the United board gave Mourinho plenty of money to compete. Top-quality players such as Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku -- who he persuaded to snub Chelsea and come to United for £75 million in 2017 -- and Pogba for a then world record fee of £89 million in 2016 have floundered under his authoritar-ian stewardship. Indeed it was his deteriorating relationship with World Cup-winning midfielder Pogba -- one of many to feel the lash of his tongue in public -- that symbolised the decline at the club under him. Mourinho questioned his attitude while the player hit back with open criticism of the tactics, culminating in him kick-ing his heels on the bench during the Liverpool debacle on Sunday.

The manager's overall Premier League points haul of 176 since his appointment by United lagged behind City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea during the same pe-riod. Patrice Evra, who made over 350 appearances for United, ex-pressed his annoyance at the fo-cus on the Pogba-Mourinho saga.

"Let's focus on rebuilding something solid instead of being in a playground. Doing this is only disrespecting the badge, from now we only need positivity," the Frenchman tweeted

Pakistan seek batting form in South Africa tour opener

Manchester United Sack Mourinho

AFP/File / ISHARA S. KODIKARA

Pakistan's batsmen will seek form when they open their tour of South Africa with a three-day match

against a South African Invitation XI at Willowmoore Park in Benoni Wednesday. It is the only game for the tourists before the first of three Tests starts in Centurion on December 26. Pakistan twice suf-fered fourth-innings batting col-lapses in losing a recent Test series against New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates. Both captain Sarfraz Ahmed and coach Mickey Arthur acknowledged on arrival in South Africa that posting competitive to-tals was crucial if they are to match the hosts in what is shaping as a battle between two teams with strong bowling attacks.

With the warm-up match clash-ing with the resumption of South Africa's four-day franchise compe-tition, the Invitation XI is drawn from the country's second-tier provincial competition.

Even so, the Tests are likely to be a major challenge in a country where Pakistan have won only two Tests while losing nine on five

tours. South Africa's bowling will be spearheaded by Kagiso Rabada and fit-again Dale Steyn, although the hosts will be without the re-tired Morne Morkel and Lungi Ngidi, who has a long-term injury.

Vernon Philander is a serious doubt for the first Test because of a hairline fracture on his right thumb. Pakistan have their own injury concerns, with fast bowler Mohammad Abbas and opening batsman Fakhar Zaman undergo-ing treatment in a bid to get them fit for the first Test. The Tests will be followed by five one-day inter-nationals in which both teams will be looking to settle on combina-tions ahead of the Cricket World Cup in England and Wales, start-ing on May 30. There will also be three Twenty20 internationals -- a format in which Pakistan top the international rankings.

Test squadPakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt/

wkt), Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Mo-hammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Yasir Shah

FixturesDecember19-21: SA Invitation XI, Benoni26-30: First Test, CenturionJanuary3-7: Second Test, Cape Town11-15: Third Test, Johannesburg19: First ODI, Port Elizabeth22: Second ODI, Durban25: Third ODI, Centurion27: Fourth ODI, Johannesburg30: Fifth ODI, Cape TownFebruary1: First T20 international, Cape

Town3: Second T20 international, Jo-

hannesburg6: Third T20 international, Cen-

turion

Paine relief: Australia win for first time since 'sandpapergate'AFP / WILLIAM WEST

Australia captain Tim Paine was a relieved man after his team beat India by 146 runs in

Perth Tuesday to level the series with their first Test win since the ball-tampering 'sandpapergate' scandal that rocked international cricket. Set 287 to win, India re-sumed at 115 for five on the final day and never threatened to pull off a miraculous victory, losing their last five wickets for just 21 runs. India were dismissed for 140, with spinner Nathan Lyon claiming 3-39 to finish with eight wickets for the match and guide the home team to a drought-breaking success, their first in seven Tests spanning al-most 10 months.

It was Paine's first Test win in five matches since taking over from the suspended Steve Smith in South Africa, and also the first victory for new coach Justin Langer, coming in his hometown.

Paine, who was involved in a

verbal spat with Indian counter-part Virat Kohli on the third and fourth days, said the overwhelm-ing emotion was relief at finally being able to put a dark period in Australian cricket behind them.

"I'm relieved personally," he said. "It's been hard work -- the first two Tests of this series have been really tough.

"We've got some inexperi-enced players in terms of Test matches played, to get a win like that against the best Test team in the world is going to give them a huge boost of confidence."

- Kohli defends selections -Kohli defended his side's deci-

sion to play four fast bowlers in-stead of picking Ravindra Jadeja to replace injured spinner Ravi Ashwin. Despite the lively and at times unpredictable wicket, Kohli said the Indians were con-fident they could chase down the target, but paid credit to the Australian bowlers. "We had the belief we could do it," he said.

"They were more relentless and got the balls in the right ar-

eas for long enough."Both captains played down

the on-field banter during the match, saying it never crossed the line of what was acceptable.

Australia's previous Test win was against South Africa at St George's Park in March.

It was during the following Test at Newlands that Cameron Ban-croft was caught using sandpaper to alter the ball and Australian cricket was plunged into turmoil. The scandal led to lengthy sus-pensions from Cricket Australia for Bancroft, Smith and opener David Warner and saw Paine ap-pointed as skipper just months after being recalled to the side. Australia's best result in the four previous Tests since the scandal was narrowly hanging on for a draw against Pakistan in Dubai. They had also won only six of 22 one-day internationals and Twen-ty20 matches since the scandal. Paine praised the efforts of open-ers Aaron Finch and Marcus Har-ris on the first day, saying their century partnership was critical

to the final result, and lauded the growing leadership of Lyon. He said he expected Finch, who split an index finger while bat-ting in the second innings, to be fit for the third Test in Melbourne in eight days. Having already lost first innings centurion Kohli for 17 on the fourth day, India's hope rested on overnight batsmen Ha-numa Vihari and Rishabh Pant.

- Tail folds -However, Vihari added just four

to his overnight score and fell to Mitchell Starc, who took 3-46, for 28. The right-hander tried to flick the ball through the leg side, ballooned a simple catch to Har-ris at midwicket and the last four wickets followed quickly. The last man to fall was Jasprit Bumrah, who went for a big shot but only succeeded in skying a chance back to bowler Pat Cummins. The fourth-match series now heads to Melbourne, with the famous Box-ing Day Test starting on December 26 and India looking to regroup as they seek to win their first-ever Test series in Australia.

AUSTRALIAN PLAYERS CELEBRATE THEIR VICTORY as India's last batsman Jasprit Bumrah (R) walks off the field during the day five of the second Test cricket match between Australia and India in Perth on December 18, 2018

AUSTRALIA CAPTAIN TIM PAINE WAS A RELIEVED MAN after his team beat India by 146 runs in Perth Tuesday to level the series with their first Test win since the ball-tampering 'sandpapergate' scandal that rocked international cricket.

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'Thank God, cows not given voting rights': Mehbooba Mufti jibes at BJPNEW DELHI: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minis-ter Mehbooba Mufti said on Monday that it was the "best time" for India to hold talks with Pakistan as the neigh-bouring country's new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, is being touted as a "proxy" their army.

If initiated now, she said, the talks between the two neighbours at this time could prove "beneficial".

"If Imran (Khan) is a proxy of Pakistan's army then this is the best time to talk. When Imran Khan says he is ready to talk, to open cor-ridors, then I think army is also on the same page...," Mufti said at the 'Agenda Aaj Tak' event in Delhi.

She said the "best bar-gain" for India, vis-a-vis the Kashmir issue, was during the time when Pervez Mush-arraf was the President of Pakistan as during that time ceasefire was initiated at the border and the Muzaffar-

abad route was opened up."The talks could be ben-

eficial now....why should we not talk?" she asked.

Mufti also said her party will "join hands" with any

political party that will sup-port the "resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue."

"If we can join hands with the BJP, we can do so with anyone for resolution of the

J&K issue," she said.Mufti said her Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) go-ing with the BJP, during the last political regime in the state, was "suicidal" and that

she was "disappointed" that this experiment to begin the political process in the state did not work.

Asked if she had any les-sons to learn, Mufti replied in the negative.

"They (the BJP) didn't teach me any lesson. I stood my ground...(in taking decisions). We experimented (through the PDP-BJP alliance) for the people of Kashmir, but that did not work," she said. She said there was a huge differ-ence between former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpay-ee's regime and the current one under PM Narendra Modi.

"(Atal Bihari) Vajpayee was spontaneous and down to earth...he never looked back or over his shoulder. He was a statesman. Today's NDA is more focussed in winning elections," Mufti claimed.

"Thank God, they have not given voting rights to cows," she said in an apparent dig on the BJP.

Couple told they will never have children shock doctors by having twins, and triplets

A couple who were told they would strug-gle to have children went on to have twins and triplets within the space of two years.

The couple, 29-year-old Nadia, and Rob-bie Sherwin, 32 from Dallas, found them-selves unable to conceive for a year after they married in 2012.

Doctors found Nadia had polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and 37 cysts in her ovaries, making it difficult for her to become pregnant.

But with the use of an injectable hor-mone, she conceived within a month twice, leaving medics 'dumbfounded'.

The couple began trying for a baby straight after marriage. But doctors were concerned when they weren't successful, considering they were both young, fit and healthy. It turned out that Nadia had poly-cystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which af-fects between eight and 12 per cent of US women, and one in ten women in the UK.

Nadia was given oral Femara and Clo-mid medication by her doctors to try and stimulate ovulation.

After 11 months, the medication hadn't worked and she was left feeling very sick because of the side effects.

Determined, the couple decided to try an injectable hormone, Gonal-F, an option

when ovaries can produce a follicle - small sacs which contain immature eggs - but hormonal stimulation is not sufficient to make the follicle mature.

The couple were thrilled to learn that her body responded well and Nadia be-came pregnant within a month.

The couple were overjoyed to hear they were expecting twins.

Amari and Keona (now three), were born via C-section in January 2015, weigh-ing 5lb 2oz and 4lb 3oz, respectively.

After Amari and Keona were born, the couple decided to try for another child.

They decided to take the lowest dose possible of the injectable hormone, with the goal of having just one more baby.

They were shocked to discover Nadia was pregnant within a month, with three babies. Doctors offered the couple the op-tion of selective reduction for Mrs Sher-win's safety during the pregnancy. There is a greater risk of miscarriage or abortion in women having fertility treatment.

The couple declined, believing that they were destined to bring three more healthy children into the world.

Mila, Colette and Noah were born at 35-weeks in April 2017, weighing almost 5lbs each.

Sonu NigamI wish I was from Pakistan so I would get offers from India

Indian singer Sonu Nigam in a snide remark about Pakistani singers getting work opportunities in In-dia stated that he wished he too, hailed from the other side of the border.

Addressing the Agen-da Aaj Tak 2018, the 45-year-old playback singer expressed his disapproval about Paki-stani singers getting of-fers to work in India in a rather sardonic tone.

"Sometimes, I feel like it would be better if I was from Pakistan. At least I would get offers from India," he stated.

He went on to add: “Nowadays, singers have to pay music com-panies for shows. If we don't shell the money, they will play songs sung by other singers and highlight them.

Then, they will take money from them.”

Treading ahead he mentioned how some of Pakistan’s iconic singers are not asked to pay un-like the ones from India:

"They don't do the same with Pakistani singers. But then why single only Indian sing-ers out? Atif Aslam is a very close friend of mine. He is never asked to pay to sing at shows, neither is Rahat Fateh Ali Khan," he questioned.

The artist goes on to place the blame on music companies pro-ducing a hefty number of remixes eventu-ally altering the trend: "Earlier, the compos-ers, lyricists and singers created a song. Now, the music companies have taken over that job.”

Dolphins love watching television too, finds study

A new study now finds that dol-phin who are know for their curi-osity and intelligence enjoy chill-ing out in front of the TV as well.

Researchers at the Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Re-sponder in Key Largo, Florida, played videos on a TV screen through underwater windows.

They played scenes from Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth featuring oth-er cetaceans, other nature shows, plus some Spongebob Squarepants. Experts then monitored the dolphins’ be-haviour for signs of inter-est like pressing their heads against the glass or nodding their heads, or signs of ag-gression, such as clamping their jaws or swimming with jerky movements.

They found that the dolphins didn't really mind what was on the TV, but certain dolphins showed more interest in the pic-tures than others. The research-ers wrote in the journal Zoo Biol-ogy, “Rough‐toothed dolphins

displayed significantly more behaviours, particularly inter-est and bubble behaviours, than bottlenose dolphins, with no differences observed between the species for the percentage of time spent watching.”

They further added, “Among bottlenose dolphins, males watched the television longer, and responded behaviourally significantly more, displaying a

higher rate of bubble and aggres-sive behaviours than females.”

The experts further added that male rough‐toothed dolphins displayed signifi-cantly more aggressive be-haviours than females, with no other sex differences noted which, they conclude is due to the inability for these dolphins to physically interact with or manipulate the TV.

Risk of serious kidney injury high during chemotherapy for cancer patientsNearly one in 10 cancer pa-tients treated with chemo-therapy or newer targeted drugs may be hospitalized for serious kidney injury, a Canadian study suggests.

The study involved roughly 163,000 patients who started chemotherapy or targeted therapies for a new cancer diagnosis in Ontario from 2007 to 2014. Overall, 10,880 were hospi-talized with serious kidney damage or for dialysis.

This translated into a cumulative acute kidney injury rate of 9.3 percent, the study found. People with advanced tumors were 41 percent more likely to have acute kidney injuries than patients with early-stage cancer.

Compared to the group as a whole, individuals who already had chronic kidney disease were 80 percent more likely to be hospitalized for a kidney injury, and people with diabetes had a 43 percent greater chance.

“Patients should be aware that kidney injury can result during cancer treatment - both due to cancer itself and the drugs used to treat it,” said lead study author Dr. Abhijat Kitchlu of the Uni-versity of Toronto.

Many medicines that treat tumors are removed from the body by the kid-neys and can damage cer-tain cells within the kid-neys, Kitchlu said by email.

“It may be possible to reduce the risk of acute kidney injury by maintain-ing good hydration and in some cases, avoiding other drugs that can in-crease risk to the kidneys,” Kitchlu added. Medica-tions that can damage the kidneys include ibu-profen and other non-ste-roidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs), certain blood pressure medicines, and diuretics. In fact, in the study, older patients taking water pills or cer-tain heart medications were also at higher risk for serious kidney problems.

“Patients should seek early medical attention when concerned about dehydration or infection, as the symptoms related to kidney injury (decreased urine output, swelling, nausea, fatigue or confu-sion) may only occur af-ter the kidneys have been damaged,” Kitchlu advised.

In the current study, patients were more than twice as likely to develop

acute kidney problems within the first 90 days of starting cancer treatment than they were later on, researchers report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Patients who are already at high risk of kidney dam-age because of health problems like diabetes may be able to take cancer drugs that are less likely to damage the kidneys, said Leah Siskind, of the Uni-versity of Louisville Medi-cal School in Kentucky.

“However, these less nephrotoxic chemothera-peutics are often less ef-fective at reducing tumor burden,” Siskind, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

Patients at high risk for kidney damage should dis-cuss alternative drugs or doses with their physicians to see if they can treat tu-mors in a way that mini-mizes their chance of kid-ney injury, advised Dr. Laura Cosmai of San Carlo Borro-meo Hospital in Milan, Italy.