14 December 2015

SRINAGAR | 14 December 2015 | 02 Rabi ul Awwal 1437 AH Vol: 3 | Issue No: 296 | Pages: 08 | Rs 3/- 

MONDAY 

3rd 

PRECIOUS KASHMIR 

http//www.preciouskashmir.com | email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com 

Hope Indo-Pak talks 

this time are 'result 

oriented': Basit 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Expressing 

his happiness at the 

breakthrough in the bilateral 

talks between the two hostile 

nations, Pakistan High Commissioner 

to India Abdul Basit 

on Sunday said he hoped that 

the dialogues this time would 

be 'result oriented' rather 

than just 'talks'. 

"It's a positive development, 

as our Prime Minister 

Nawaz Sharif has been saying 

all along that the two countries 

can settle the long standing 

issues through dialogues. 

Glad that finally the process 

has begun. We hope that the 

two foreign secretaries will 

be able to meet sooner than 

later to finalise the modalities 

for our future dialogue and 

future discussions," Basit said 

here. 

Asserting that is was important 

for both India and 

Pakistan to normalise their 

problems, Basit called for 

both nations to work together 

to overcome all their challenges 

on long standing issues 

like Jammu and Kashmir and 

Siachen. 

"This time we hope we 

will be able to proceed meaningfully 

and it would be a result 

oriented process rather 

than simply talking about 

talks. We will try to walk the 

talk as well this time," Basit 

Precious Kashmir News 

Pakistan, India should 

resolve Kashmir: Imran 

added. 

Last week, during External 

Affairs Minister Sushma 

Swaraj's visit to Pakistan, 

it was announced that the 

Foreign Secretaries of India 

and Pakistan will meet next 

month to discuss the details 

of the comprehensive bilateral 

dialogue. 

"India and Pakistan are 

Lahore, Dec 13: Pakistan 

Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman 

Imran Khan has said both 

India and Pakistan should 

resolve long-standing problems, 

particularly the Kashmir 

issue and move forward 

in developing cordial relations 

and strengthening 

trade to alleviate poverty on 

both sides. 

Talking to the media at 

Lahore airport upon his return 

from India on Saturday, 

where he went on an invitation 

by Prime Minister Narendra 

Modi, Khan said there 

was no other option left for 

Pakistan and India but to resolve 

disputes. 

“The leaders of both 

countries should decide 

they will no more let any 

element sabotage the peace 

process for the sake of wellbeing 

of the poor on the 

both sides as well as in other 

neighboring countries,” he 

stressed. 

Khan said there were 

people on both sides who 

continue hindering the 

peace process for their vested 

interests. 

“The leaders of both 

countries should have bigger 

vision and earn dividends 

from peaceful and 

cordial relations for the betterment 

of their peoples,” 

he said. 

Referring to former 

foreign minister Khurshid 

Kasuri’s book, Khan said he 

told the Indian premier that 

at one point of time Pakistan 

and India had reached 

very close to resolving the 

Kashmir issue. 

He said he also raised 

the issue of plight of minorities 

in India and told 

PM Modi that its impact 

was also felt in Pakistan 

and stressed that the Indian 

leadership should give 

a clear message to end discrimination 

against minorities. 

He said his party also 

believed that minorities 

See Pakistan on Pg 6 

ready for talks. How this dialogue 

can be taken forward 

- the schedule and modalities 

will be decided in due 

course," Swaraj said after 

meeting Nawaz Sharif and 

Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj 

Aziz. 

According to the joint 

statement released by both 

See Basit on Pg 6 

Omar tweets about illegal 

constructions in Gulmarg 

'Ban on Gujjar, 

Bakerwals' entry into 

forests threatening 

Jammu, Dec 13: Claiming 

that restrictions on entry 

into forests and state-owned 

land posing a threat to their 

life, Gujjars and Bakerwals 

today appealed to the Jammu 

and Kashmir government to 

formulate a sustainable innovative 

programme to develop 

the community without 

affecting their nomadic 

lifestyle. 

"We are concerned that 

the tribal groups may have 

to relinquish their migratory 

tradition in the next 

few years due to the closure 

of forests, restrictions on 

government lands and other 

factors," secretary of Tribal 

Research and Cultural Foundation 

(TRCF) Javid Rahi said. 

Rahi said the tribal migration, 

which is an inseparable 

part of Gujjar-Bakerwal 

culture, will become part of 

history as they these tribes 

are facing various restrictions. 

He said thousands 

of Gujjars and Bakerwals 

have already relinquished 

their century-old nomadic 

lifestyle due to the restrictions 

imposed by the security 

agencies and militants on 

tribal migration in border and 

strategic areas. 

"With the ban on entry 

into forests and government 

lands, these communities left 

meadows of the north-western 

Himalayas and settled 

in plains, and turned into 

unskilled migratory labourers 

or beggars," he said. 

He said that in absence of 

disaster management polices 

for tribal, the pastoral communities 

especially Gujjars 

and Bakerwals suffer a heavy 

loss of lives and livestock due 

to landslide, forest fire, snow 

and hailstorm. 

"Because of man-animal 

conflict every year and due 

to these natural calamities 

the percentage of nomadic 

Gujjars-Bakerwals population 

is also going down in the 

state," he said. 

Rahi said the government 

should formulate a sustainable 

plan to protect 

See Ban on Pg 6 

Srinagar, Dec 13: Former Jammu and Kashmir 

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today 

said that massive constructions were 

being carried out under the guise of 

"minor repairs" in Gulmarg tourist 

resort. 

"It's terrible to see that under 

the guise of minor repairs, massive 

constructions are being carried out 

in Gulmarg, authorities complicit," 

Omar, the working president of opposition National 

Conference wrote on Twitter. 

The Jammu and Kashmir High court has 

passed several orders recently directing the 

authorities to take substantive action 

against illegal constructions in the 

resort area. 

Following the court orders last 

month, several buildings constructed 

illegally or in violation of the Srinagar 

Master Plan in and around Dal 

and Nigeen Lakes have been sealed. 

Given the enormity of violations 

See Omar on Pg 6 

Peshawar, Dec 13: At least 23 people 

were killed and 55 others injured today 

when a bomb ripped through a cloth 

market in the restive tribal region near 

the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan. 

The blast occurred inParachinar in 

Kurram agency when the market was 

filled with a large number of people who 

were buying used and second-hand winter 

clothes. 

Security forces reached the spot and 

cordoned off the area and evidence is also 

being gathered from the crime scene. 

"At least 23 have died and more than 

50 were injured," said Amjad Ali Khan, 

the political administrator of Kurram. 

Meanwhile, two suspects were taken 

into custody from the blast site whereas 

police said that the bomb was hidden in 

a cloth bale. 

The injured were shifted to agency 

headquarters hospital in Parachinar for 

medical assistance. However, officials 

have so far not confirmed the exact nature 

of the blast. 

A doctor at the hospital where the 

wounded were taken said that most of 

the injured were in "critical condition" 

and added that the death toll could increase. 

Emergency has been declared in all 

hospitals in Parachinar. 

The market, where used winter 

clothes are sold, is located near the entry 

point of Parachinar town. 

The army evacuated 23 seriously injured 

blast victims to Peshawar in two 


Srinagar, Dec 13: Criticizing the state 

government for their apathy towards 

flood victims All Parties Hurriyat Conference 

(m) Chairperson and Dar-ul- 

Khair Mirwaiz Manzil chief, Mirwaiz 

Umar Farooq Sunday said the government 

had left the victims of September 

2014 devastating floods and traders 

at the mercy of Almighty Allah. 

Addressing a gathering of people 

at Batamaloo Srinagar after handing 

over seven residential houses constructed 

at a cost of Rs 40 lakh by the 

Dar-ul-Khair Mirwaiz Manzil under 

the third phase of the ‘Ak Akis’ initiative 

for the people whose houses were 

completely damaged in floods, the 

Mirwaiz said, “history was witness to 

the fact that successive regional governments 

had always left people in 

lurch in times of crisis.” 

The Hurriyat (m) Chairperson 

handed over the newly constructed 

houses to their owners namely 

Mehraj-u-Din Dar of Banpora, Abdul 

Rehman Sheikh and Abdul Rashid 

Sheikh of Hamza Colony, Abdul Gani 

Khan and Bashir Ahmad Bhat of New 

Colony and Abdul Hamid Wani and 

Dilshada Bano of Bara Pather areas 

of Batamaloo, an amalgam statement 

said this evening. 

Lauding Kashmir for braving severe 

hardship with courage and perseverance 

during the past 25 years, 

Journalism With A Human Heart 

India, Pak need to find ‘mechanism’ to 

include Kashmiris in dialogue: Mirwaiz 

Aadhaar 

Cards, ICs 

mandatory 

for subsidized 

ration 


Srinagar, Dec 13: To ensure 

transparency in the distribution 

of ration under the National 

Food Safety Act (NFSA), 

the state government has 

decided to make availability 

of Aadhaar card and income 

certificate, issued by the Tehsildar, 

as mandatory for supplying 

the ration as per 2011 

census. 

A senior official of the 

CAPD department was quoted 

as having said that the said 

documents are necessary to 

overcome the duplicity while 

issuing the ration cards. “The 

Aadhaar card is a unique 

identification proof and issuing 

the ration cards on the basis 

of these Aadhaar numbers 

will ensure transparency.” 

He further added, “we are 

seeking the income certificates 

issued by the Tehsildars 

as only a revenue official concerned 

and, not a CAPD official, 

can ascertain the income 

of a family.” 

See Aadhaar on Pg 6 

helicopters. 

The agency is adjacent to North Waziristan 

where Operation Zarb-i-Azb is 

in progress against the Pakistani Taliban 

and other insurgent groups. 

Security forces cordoned off the area 

as a probe into the blast went under way. 

No individual or group has claimed 

responsibility for the attack yet. 

Security sources said that two suspects 

have been taken into custody from 

the blast site. 

Earlier, rescue and emergency teams 

rushed to the blast site and shifted the 

dead and wounded to District Headquarters 

Hospital (DHQ) Parachinar. 

Blast victims were shifted to District 

Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Parachinar 

for treatment. Blast victims were shifted 

to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) 

Parachinar for treatment. 


23 killed, 55 injured in Pak blast 

Mirwaiz said, “People are expected 

to show the same resolve in future to 

help take Kashmir’s resistance movement 

to its logical conclusion. It was 

because of the sacrifices of the people 

that the heat of Kashmir issue is felt 

globally and the international community 

is stressing for the resolution 

of Kashmir issue.” 

Commenting upon the recently 

held Indo-Pak foreign minister level 

talks in Islamabad, Mirwaiz said that 

the decision of the two countries to 

resume the stalled dialogue “is a welcome 

step and it gives an indication of 

seriousness that this time it would be 

a structured dialogue with Kashmir as 

one of the prominent issues”. 

He however, said, “Both the countries 

have to find a mechanism to 

include the people of Kashmir in the 

dialogue process because sans their 

participation and without taking their 

wishes into account there cannot be a 

just and agreeable solution to the issue.” 

He said more than a year had 

passed since September 2014 devastating 

flood but “it was a pity that the 

government had failed” to rehabilitate 

Kashmir’s flood victims, business 

community and traders. 

Commenting upon the role of 

Dar-ul-Khair Mirwaiz Manzil, Mirwaiz 

said, “since its creation despite having 

limited resources at its disposal, all efforts 

were made by the organisation 

in doing its best for rehabilitating the 

Srinagar, Dec 13: An intense cold wave 

swept the Kashmir Valley on Sunday as 

minimum temperatures dropped below 

the freezing point overnight. "The minimum 

temperatures throughout the valley 

dropped below zero today (Sunday)," 

an official of the local weather said. 

The minimum temperature was minus 

0.8 in Srinagar city, minus 4.3 in Pahalgam 

and minus 9.2 in Gulmarg. 

The town of Leh in Ladakh region 

of Jammu and Kashmir experienced 

the coldest night of the season so far as 

the mercury plunged 12 degrees below 

freezing point even as minimum temperatures 

at most places in the Valley 

increased slightly. 

Leh recorded a minimum of minus 

12.1 degrees Celsius — down by over 

seven degrees from the previous night’s 

minus 4.6 degrees, a MeT department official 

said. 

He said this was the coldest night of 

the season in the town this winter. On 

December 2, the town had registered a 

low of minus 9.9 degrees. Leh was also 

the coldest recorded place in Jammu and 

Kashmir. 

In Jammu region, minimum of 8.5 

degrees was recorded in Jammu, 8.5 degrees 

in Katra, 2.5 degrees in Batote, 0.3 

degree in Bhaderwah and 2.5 degrees in 

Banihal town. 

"We are expecting a further drop in 

the night temperatures across the state 

during the next three to four days. 

"During this period, weather is expected 

to remain dry. Clear night skies 

will cause further drop in minimum 

temperatures in Jammu and Kashmir," 

the MET official said. 

The 40-day period of bitter cold, 

known locally as 'chillai kalan', begins 

on December 21 and ends on January 31. 

Lakes, streams and rivers freeze in the 

valley freeze during the period. 

The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg, in 

north Kashmir, registered a minimum of 

minus 9.2 degrees, an increase of over a 

degree from the previous night’s minus 

10.6 degrees. The previous night was 

the coldest of the season so far at the 

resort. 

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief 

Minister Omar Abdullah, who is known 

for his love for the nature and skiing on 

the slopes in Gulmarg hill station, expressed 

his happiness on Sunday over 

flood victims.” “This,” he said, “became 

possible only with the help of 

Kashmiri philanthropists and general 

public who came forward and joined 

hands with the ‘Akh Akis’ initiative to 

rehabilitate the flood affected.” 

Mirwaiz acknowledged the people 

for rising to the occasion whenever 

their fellow beings needed them 

especially in times of distress. 

Calling upon more people to come 

forward and join hands with Dar-ul- 

Khair Mirwaiz Manzil, to help the 

economically and socially-backward, 

needy and the helpless, he said that 

Islamic teachings make us duty bound 

to do so. 

Giving details Mirwaiz said that 

Dar-ul-Khair Mirwaiz Manzil in the 

first two phases of the “‘Akh Akis’ 

initiative has handed over residential 

houses to the flood affected people of 

Gaw Kadal, Mandir Bagh, Maisuma 

and Chattabal areas after the local 

Masjid Committee members identified 

the worst affected flood victims 

in the area. “Besides this Dar-ul-Khair 

Mirwaiz Manzil also helped more than 

100 flood-affected families of south 

Kashmir’s Islamabad and Kulgam districts 

and handed over Rs 10 lakh in 

cash as compensation to them,” Mirwaiz 

informed the gathering. 

“While people were facing oppression 

and suppression at the political 

level, they were also subjected to 

See Mirwaiz on Pg 6 

Valley shivers, Leh freezes at -12 degrees 

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz 

Sharif, Speaker National Assembly Sardar 

Ayaz Sadiq, Federal Interior Minister 

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf 

chairman Imran Khan and 

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif 

issued condemnation messages against 

the blast. 

Kurram is one of the most sensitive 

tribal areas as it borders three Afghan 

provinces and at one point was one of the 

key routes for militant movement across 

the border. It has witnessed scores of 

such attacks and kidnappings for ransom 

incidents in the past several years. 

The agency is adjacent to North Waziristan 

where Operation Zarb-i-Azb is 

in progress against the Tehreek-i-Taliban 

and other insurgent groups. The military 

had also launched an offensives against 

See Pak Blast on Pg 6 

Srinagar, Dec 13: In an embarrassment 

to Jammu and 

Kashmir government, the 

state tourism department 

floated a tender for procuring 

office equipment, asking the 

suppliers to deliver and install 

the items at Quaid-e-Azam 

University in Pakistan's capital 

Islamabad. 

A tender notice of the 

department last month, approved 

by the Directorate 

of Tourism, for procuring 

laptops and computer accessories, 

had asked the suppliers 

to deliver and install the 

items at Pakistan Scientific 

and Technological Information 

Centre (PASTIC) building 

of Quaid-e-Azam University 

in Islamabad-the capital city 

of Pakistan. 

The terms and conditions 

of the tender notice seem to 

have been copied from a similar 

tender from the Pakistan 

University without editing 

any details or even the contact 

number. 

"Items must be delivered/ 

installed at PASTIC National 

Centre, Quaid-i-Azam University 

Campus, Islamabad 

the season's first snowfall here. 

“It's snowing. It couldn't get any 

more beautiful up in #Gulmarg today,” 

Omar wrote on Twitter. 

The mercury in the other famous 

tourist resort of Pahalgam –- which 

serves as a base camp for the annual Amarnath 

Yatra in south Kashmir – went up 

by over two degrees from the previous 

night’s minus 6.5 degrees to settle at a 

low of minus 4.3 degrees, the official said. 

The night temperatures also increased 

in the Kupwara and Kokernag 

towns, where the minimum settled at 

minus 2.5 degrees and minus 0.1 degrees, 

respectively. 

The official said there were traces 

of snowfall in some areas in the higher 

reaches. The MeT Office has forecast 

mainly dry weather over the next 

few days. (Agencies) 

J&K tourism dept 'goof up' 

Tender directs supply of 

items to Pak University 

within the time limit mentioned 

in the supply order at 

the cost of the supplier," the 

tender read. 

It further asked the suppliers 

that the "bid must accompany 

with 2 per cent earnest 

money of the total cost in 

the shape of Bank Draft/Pay 

Order in favour of PASTIC National 

Centre, Islamabad". 

The error has since been 

rectified but not before the 

screen shots of the same were 

circulated around. 

Meanwhile, Mehmood 

Shah, Director Tourism said 

the department removed the 

tender from the website after 

coming to know about the 

"goof-up". 

"Perhaps someone 

See Tender on Pg 6 

C 

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Kathua, Dec 13: Minister 

for Health, Medical Education 

and ARI and Trainings 

Choudhary Lal Singh said 

that people should come 

forward to avail the benefits 

of the government schemes 

and programmes envisioned 

to ensure welfare of 

the people . 

The Minister was speaking 

at a public meeting held 

at Kathua today. 

Choudhary Lal Singh 

said that the role of the PRI 

representatives is decisive 

in bringing about a positive 

change in the lives of 

the people and asked them 

to create awareness among 

the people so that they can 

be benefited by the welfare 

schemes being implemented 

. 

The Minister said that 

the coalition government 

is marching ahead with the 

vision of ensuring equitable 

development in all the three 

regions of the state viz: Jammu, 

Kashmir and Ladakh. 

He said healthcare and education 

sector are undergoing 

a policy change and efforts 

are afoot to make it accessible 

at remotest point of the 

state. 

Earlier deputations from 

different areas apprised 

the Minister about their 

demands mainly related 

to better road connectivity 

under PMGSY, augmenting 

water and power supply 

and other basic amenities. 

Ch Lal Singh while responding 

to the projected 

issues of people assured 

that concerted efforts are 

on to improve road connectivity 

to expedite the developmental 

pace specially 

in the rural areas. He said 

the works on roads under 

PMGSY are being expedited 

to provide better links to far 

flung areas of the state . 

The minister directed 

the officers of the concerned 

departments to take adequate 

measures to redress 

the problems projected by 

people during the meeting. 

Among others Director 

Health Services B.S Pathania, 

CMO, AC(D), XEN PWD, 

AEE PHE, AEE PMGSY and 

other district and tehsil 

level officers were present 

on the occasion. 


Jammu, Dec 13: Minister for Agriculture, 

Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura 

today visited Check Nazela 

Dabra, Kanchallian, Maira, Pangali 

Colony, Dharian and Nadwal villages 

of Chamab Constituency and 

took stock of the ongoing works on 

New Pratap Canal under the Command 

Area Development (CAD) 

programme. He also inspected Seed 

Multiplication Farm, Bakore. 

MLA, Chamab, Dr. Krishan Lal, 

Director CAD, AK Malhotra, Deputy 

Director CAD, Onkar Singh Choudhary, 

Sub Divisional Magistrate, 

Khour, other officers of Agriculture, 

CAD and Revenue Department accompanied 

the Minister during his 

tour. 

The Minister was apprised that 

under New Pratap Canal the construction 

work on 11 projects is 

apace in the Constituency. He was 

also informed that Rs.2.88 crore have 

been spent on these works including 

construction of field channels during 

the current year and against the 

target of 2600 hectors of Cultivated 

Command Area (CCA), 1797 hectors 

of CCA has been covered during 

2015-16 so far. 

News 

Monday 

2 

14.12.2015 

Need to provide quality education, 

economic security to girls: Bali 


Kathua, Dec 13: Minister for Social 

Welfare, Forest, Ecology and Environment 

Bali Bhagat and Minister 

of State for Health and Social Welfare 

Asiea Naqash launched the 

ambitious Ladli Beti scheme , at 

Kathua here today . 

MLA Bani Jeevan Lal was also 

present on the occasion. 

They also launched the insurance-based 

scheme – AASRA 

that aims at providing security to 

low-income groups in the event of 

death or disability. 

Highlighting the importance 

of these schemes, Bali said that 

both the schemes envisage extending 

security cover to the poor 

beneficiaries and to promote the 

girl child in view of the declining 

sex ratio in 8 districts of the State. 

He said that the scheme ensures 

complete security cover for 

the girls born on or after 1st of 

April, 2015 and Government will 

ensure depositing Rs 1000 in bank 

account of the girl child till she 

attains 14 years of age and at attaining 

the age of 21 years, the accumulated 

amount approximately 

Rs. 6.50 lakh will be disbursed to 

the beneficiary for the purpose of 

marriage or undertaking any venture 

as per her wish. 

Bali said the scheme has been 

launched to bring positive disposition 

towards the birth of girl child 

in the society. He stressed the need 

to provide economic security and 

quality education to the girls so 

that they become equal partners 

in the growth of the nation . 

The minister said that female 

feticide is an heinous crime and 

the government is taking concrete 

steps to curb this social evil. There 

are so many reasons for adverse 

sex ratio but poverty and illiteracy 

are two main reasons which 

should be taken care of ,stressed 

the Minister . 

While speaking on Aasra 

scheme the minister said that 

the scheme is a social assistance 

scheme aimed at insuring lowincome 

group families having annual 

income less than Rs.75000. 

He further said that the CDPO 

will work as a nodal officer for implementing 

these schemes and the 

‘Connectivity accorded 

top priority by Govt’ 

MLA Bhaderwah 

holds grievance 

redressal camp 

Bhallesa, Dec 13: MLA 

Bhaderwah Daleep Singh 

Parihar conducted an extensive 

tour of Chilli- Pingal 

area of Gandoh wherein in 

interactions with the locals 

he redressed the grievances 

of the people. He was accompanied 

by Sub divisional 

Magistrate Gandoh, Dalmir 

choudhary;Chief Medical 

Officer Doda Dr. Kulbhushan 

among various District and 

Tehsil officers . In a public 

grievance redressal camp at 

Chilli people projected the 

demand of posting a Doctor 

at PHC Chilli, construction of 

Chilli-Pingal link road, taking 

up work on immediate basis 

on Chilli-Manu Haddal road 

stalled due to pending forest 

clearance and mechanical cutting 

of fruit bearing plants. 


Baramulla, Dec 13: Terming 

the Horticulture sector 

as the backbone of the rural 

economy, Minister for Horticulture, 

Hajj and Auqaf, 

Abdul Rehman Veeri today 

called for introducing new 

technology-driven initiatives 

in horticulture sector 

to boost productivity. 

Addressing people during 

his visit to Fruit Mandi 

Kanispora here today Baramulla, 

Veeri said the present 

government has launched 

various novel initiatives for 

the growth and expansion 

of the horticulture sector 

to give a fillip to the rural 

economy. 

MLA Rafiabad, Yawar 

Dillawar Mir, District Development 

Commissioner 

Baramulla, Yasha Mudgal, 

Anganwadi workers should work 

diligently for creating awareness 

about these programmes among 

the masses so that beneficiaries 

can avail the benefits under these 

schemes 

While highlighting the social 

assistance scheme SMAS(State 

Marriage Assistance Scheme) 

the Minister said that under this 

scheme the government has already 

identified 375000 girls and 

the list of beneficiaries are with 

social welfare department and the 

office of Deputy commissioner of 

every district. 

Speaking about ‘Hunnar’ , the 

minister informed that it is a skill 

development scheme for poor 

girls and this proposed scheme 

will bring all schemes launched by 

different departments under one 

umbrella which have training and 

skill development component. The 

At SMF, Bakore Khour, the Minister 

was informed that Rs. 3.19 crore 

has been sanctioned under NABARD 

for the development of the farm. He 

was also informed that that the construction 

work of fencing, deep bore 

well, irrigation channel, Agriculture 

Assistant Quarter and office besides 

ramp works are to be taken under 

the said programme. 

The Minister directed that concerned 

to speed up the pace of work 

on all works and complete them in a 

stipulated time frame. 

Addressing a series of public 

meetings at different places including 

Khour and Nadwal during his 

tour, the Minister said that Government 

is committed for upliftment 

of farmer community, 

scheme will be operational in all 

districts across the State and Social 

Welfare Department will be 

the nodal department for implementation 

of the scheme, said the 

minister. 

Minister of state for Health 

and Social Welfare ,Asiea Naqash , 

while speaking on the occasion informed 

that the motive of launching 

Ladli Beti scheme in Kathua 

district is to check the alarming 

decline in sex ratio and said that 

this scheme will help to change 

social perception about girl child 

and improve the living conditions 

of the girl child . She also 

said that Ladli Beti scheme will 

become a bench mark in providing 

dignified status to the girl 

child in the society. 

She further informed that 

Aanganwadi workers have an 

imperative role to play in highlighting 

various social welfare 

schemes of the government and 

assured that the government 

will take necessary steps to redress 

their issues. 

MLA Bani , Jeevan Lal , thanked 

the minister for launching these 

adding that in this regard several 

initiatives have been taken by the 

present dispensation. 

He said the Government would 

take up the matter with the Central 

Government for comprehensive 

policy for the State of Jammu and 

Kashmir which he said will give benefit 

to the farming community in 

marketing of fruits and basmati. Responding 

to the demand for extending 

New Pratap Canal programme by 

further three years, the Minister said 

that this matter will soon be taken up 

with the Centre Government. He said 

present Government is committed 

to provide better irrigation facilities 

upto the tail end for improving agricultural 

production. 

With regard to desilting of D-7 

schemes and said that generating 

awareness about these schemes is 

necessary to give maximum benefit 

to the beneficiaries . 

Speaking on this occasion State 

Mission Director , ICDS , Hashmat 

Ali highlighted the benefits 

of these schemes and announced 

that Kathua is the eight district of 

the state where Ladli Beti scheme 

has been launched. He informed 

that 555 girls have been registered 

under Ladli Beti scheme and 

1600 registration have been done 

under Aasra scheme. 

In this launching function 

certificates of registration under 

these schemes were distributed 

among the beneficiaries and an 

impressive cultural programme 

was organized by the Information 

Department in collaboration with 

District Social welfare Department. 

DDC Kathua , Ramesh Kumar 

, District Programme officer ICDS 

,Distt. Social welfare officer , CD- 

POs , Anganwadi workers ,anganwadi 

helpers and beneficiaries and 

locals in large number were present 

on the occasion. 

Govt committed to provide better 

irrigation facilities: Hanjura 

Govt employing technology-driven initiatives 

to transform horticulture sector: Veeri 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Minister 

for Transport Abdul Gani 

Kohli paid surprise visit to 

SRTC Office at Tees Hazari 

and Sarai Kalikhan here today 

and reviewed the functioning 

of these office besides the facilities 

being provided to the 

passengers. 

Minister also inspected 

head office of JKSRTC at ISBT 

New Delhi where he found 

a Senior Assistant, Zahoor 

Ahmad absent from duties 

without proper permission. 

He ordered attachment of the 

official with the head quarter 

at Srinagar/Jammu with immediate 

effect. 

Expressing concern over 

improper functioning of 

these offices the Minister 

directed the concerned officers 

to maintain proper 

office records and submit 

quarterly report to the head 

quarter. 

He directed the concerned 

to ensure plying of 

buses from New Delhi to 

Katra on daily basis to facilitate 

the pilgrims visiting the 

Holy Cave. 

Interacting with the staff 

in these offices, the Minister 

exhorted upon the field 

Director Horticulture Planning 

and Marketing and 

other officers were also 

present during the function. 

“New initiatives like 

mixed cropping have to be 

translated into reality amid 

new challenges in the horticulture 

sector,” Veeri said 

and added that introduction 

of high-yielding crop 

varieties and high density 

plantation would go a long 

Kohli pays surprise visit to 

SRTC offices at New Delhi 

functionaries of SRTC to work 

with dedication for providing 

better services to the passengers. 

He said “SRTC is a corporation 

and all out efforts 

should be made to make it a 

profitable one.” 

He asked the concerned 

staff to ensure frequent 

checks of the buses on different 

roads for plugging in the 

revenue loses. “The government 

would not tolerate any 

kind of corruption in the Corporation 

and officials found 

indulging in any such practice 

will be dealt sternly”, the 

Minister cautioned. 

way in boosting production. 

The Minister said that 

cold storage facility is being 

provided in every area of 

the state to increase the life 

and marketability of various 

fruits. He said an advanced 

laboratory is being also 

established in Srinagar to 

boost the efficiency of the 

horticulture sector. 

He said Kanispora Fruit 

Mandi will be brought to the 

level of one of the best Fruit 

Mandi on war-footing basis 

and would be made fully 

functional soon. 

The Minister also announced 

allotment 85 shop 

sites to the stakeholders at 

Kanispora Fruit Mandi. He 

also interacted with various 

deputations of fruit growers 

and gave a patient hearing 

to their demands and issues. 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Minister for 

PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control 

Sukhnandan Kumar called on Union 

Minister for Urban Development M 

Venkaiah Naidu and requested him 

to make special provision for covering 

maximum cities of Jammu and 

Kashmir under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation 

and Urban Transformation 

(AMRUT). 

The AMRUT scheme covers all 

cities and towns with a population 

of over one lakh with notified 

municipalities including 

cantonment boards. Due to this, 

only three cities in the State including 

Jammu, Anantnag and 

Srinagar are being covered under 

this prestigious scheme of the 

Union Government. 

The PHE Minister requested 

Directs to 

disburse sugar 

before 24, ration 

before 18 Dec 

the Union Minister to make special 

provision for J&K as the state has 

so many cities with population less 

than one lakh that need urgent attention 

for the overall development 

of the state. 

The Union Minister assured 

him that the issue would be taken 

up in next Cabinet meeting and it 

will be ensured that the state of 

Jammu and Kashmir gets maximum 

benefits. 

It is pertinent to mention here 

that AMRUT scheme has been 

launched by the Centre Government 

with an aim to ensure that 

every household has access to a 

tap with assured supply of clean 

drinking water, sewerage connection 

and access to urban transportation. 

This scheme will help in 

Jammu, Dec 13: Minister for 

Consumer Affairs and Public 

Distribution Department 

and Tribal Affairs Chowdhary 

Zulfkar Ali chaired 

meeting of all officers of the 

Department from Jammu 

province and reviewed the 

stock and supply position of 

the department. 

The Minister has issued 

strict instructions to the Assistant 

Directors of Jammu 

province to ensure ration is 

disbursed before 18 of every 

month. He directed the officers 

to stick to the set date of 

disbursement and issuance 

of ration as per the set scale. 

The Minister said that if any 

complaints of late distribution 

of ration is received , 

the responsibility will be 

fixed and stern action will be 

taken against the officers. He 

said that the ration should 

reach the people well in 

time and there should be no 

back log of ration in any district. 

He also instructed ADs 

to keep check on the dealers 

and if some complaints are 

proved against them they 

should be recommended for 

cancellation of license. 

The Minister has also instructed 

officers to start supply 

of sugar to the Districts 

and same must reach to the 

rationees before 24th of December. 

He said that strict 

Canal of Khour, Hanjura said that 

the matter will be taken up with the 

concerned department on priority; 

however, he appealed the farmers 

to cooperate with the concerned authorities. 

Highlighting the achievements 

of the present Coalition Government 

headed by Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad 

Sayeed, Hanjura said that 

Ladli Beti scheme, National Food 

Security Act recently passed by the 

Cabinet and introducing of Skill Development 

Programme in educational 

institutions are important welfare 

programmes . 

MLA, Dr. Krishan demanded establishment 

of more Procurement 

Centers and stressed for proper marketing 

of paddy and basmati. 

action will be taken if sugar 

will not be disbursed before 

24th of this month. 

Pressing department to 

digitize the records of stores, 

Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali said 

that preliminary a process of 

digitization of records must 

be taken up in main food 

store of Jammu. He has set 

a deadline of January 1 for 

computerization of all records 

of the stores in Jammu 

stressing that everything 

from Chalan, receipts and 

dispatches must be started 

on computer rather manually 

before the set date. 

Meanwhile Minister has 

constituted a team of officers 

headed by a Deputy Director 

to access the functioning 

of Department in Rajouri 

district. He instructed the 

Deputy Director to visit the 

improving the quality of life for the 

poor and downtrodden sections of 

the society. 

Later, the Minister called on Union 

Minister for Water Resources 

Uma Bharti to discuss the modalities 

related to modernization of Ranbir 

canal. The Minister requested for 

providing the remaining funds for 

the upgradation of 400 km long distribution 

system so that the wastage 

of water can be minimized along 

the canal and adequate water can be 

provided to the people for irrigation 

and drinking purposes. 

He also discussed various ongoing 

projects of irrigation and flood 

control in the state and asked the 

Union Minister to ensure that timely 

funding is provided for proper 

execution of centrally sponsored 

www.preciouskashmir.com 

DC Budgam 

reviews post 

snowfall measures 

Budgam, Dec 13: The District 

Development Commissioner 

Budgam today reviewed 

post snowfall measures at a 

joint meeting of the officers 

of district administration 

and engineers of various line 

departments. 

DDC stressed on better 

coordination between the 

R&B, Mechanical, PMGSY departments 

for snow clearance 

operations so that a smooth 

and hassle free mechanism is 

put in place for this purpose. 

He directed for setting up 

of a centralized Control room 

to coordinate snow clearance 

and road opening activities 

in case of exigencies. He 

asked for keeping maximum 

number of snow clearance 

machines in a state of readiness 

at important sites. 

While viewing the winter 

stocking of food grains in the 

district, the DC was informed 

that 36000 qts of rice, 2980 

qts of Atta and 3500 gas cylinders 

are available for distribution 

among the consumers 

besides a stock of 2.10 lakh 

QTS of ration is available in the 

FCI godowns. 

The District Development 

Commissioner asked CMO 

Budgam to ensure punctuality 

of medical and paramedical 

staff in heath centers. He 

asked the engineers of PDD to 

ensure there are no unscheduled 

power curtailments and 

power transmission lines do 

not get disrupted due to snow. 

National lok 

Adalat held 

Doda, Dec 13: For the speedy 

disposal of the cases of various 

nature in different courts 

across the District National 

Lok Adalats organized by the 

District Legal Services Authority, 

Doda under the chairmanship 

of Sanjeev Gupta, 

Principal District & Sessions 

Judge Bhaderwah. 

Cases of different nature 

pertaining to various public 

services including Revenue, 

Electricity, Water Regulation 

Act, Motor Vehicle Act, MACT, 

Civil Suits, Bank Recovery, 

Pre-litigation and pending 

matters, Matrimonial, 

Criminal compoundable 

cases, cases under Section 

488 Cr.PC, MGNREGA etc. 

were taken up for amicable 

settlement . 

During the Lok Adalat 

1629 cases of different nature 

were taken up out of which 

1488 cases were settled amicably 

in these Lok Adalats and 

an amount of Rs.2,29,12,566 

was awarded/ recovered. 

Zulfkar reviews supply, stock 

position of Jammu province 

district and take stock of the 

ground situation of scale of 

ration being provided to the 

consumers. He also instructed 

to check stock and supply 

position on ground level in 

all the areas of district especially 

Kotranka, Darhal, 

Manjakote and Thanamandi 

areas and submit a 

detailed report of the same. 

The Minister also instructed 

the officer to enquire 

about the complaints of the 

residents of Targain area of 

Kotranka regarding scale of 

ration. 

Director CAPD, GS Chib, 

Joint Director Mansoor 

Hussain, Deputy Director 

Mohammad Sayeed Khan 

besides all Assistant Directors 

of Jammu division and 

Assistant Director Mills were 

present in the meeting. 

Sukhnandan urges Centre to cover more cities under AMRUT 

schemes. 

The PHE Minister also called on 

Union Minister for Rural Development, 

Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & 

Drinking Water Chaudhary Birender 

Singh to hold discussions on the issues 

related to the ongoing PHE 

schemes in the state. 

He informed the Union Minister 

about steps taken up by the 

state government for providing 

clean drinking water to the people 

under National Rural Drinking Water 

Programme and other centrally 

sponsored schemes. The Minster 

requested him to provide funds for 

the proper implementation of PHE 

schemes in the state. 

Member of Parliament Shamsher 

Singh Manhas also accompanied 

the Minister during the visit.

Precious Kashmir 

Congress starts 

campaigning for ULB polls 


Jammu, Dec 13: Kick starting 

its campaign for the 

forth coming elections to 

the Urban Local Bodies in 

the state, the Congress today 

organized a mammoth 

rally at Muthi in Raipur 

Domana assembly segment 

part of the Jammu Municipal 

Corporation, to gear up 

the party cadres in the state. 

President JKPCC Ghulam 

Ahmed Mir alongwith 

all senior leadership of the 

party besides legislators 

and prominent leaders 

addressed the huge rally, 

where a prominent Gujjar 

leader having considerable 

mass base in Poonch, 

Choudhary Abdul Gani 

joined the Congress party 

alongwith his hundreds of 

supporters, who had come 

in large number to join the 

party. Choudhary Gani had 

left National Conference 

(NC) on the eve of last assembly 

elections and contested 

as independent candidate 

from Haveli (Poonch) 

securing around 18000 

votes. The rally was organized 

here today by Shri 

Mula Ram-former Minister 

and Senior Congress leader 

Th. Hari Singh Chib. 

Addressing a massive 

gathering of party workers, 

PCC Chief G. A.Mir said that 

the poll promises of BJP and 

PDP have proved to be mere 

bluffs and people are fed up 

with the policies and sheer 

opportunism of two parties. 

Both the parties took the 

extreme positions on most 

of the emotional issues and 

exploited their respective 

constituencies to the hilt, 

with a false and deceptive 

promise to keep each other 

out of power, if voted in 

strength. 

The people could not 

see through their tactical 

game plan and gave BJP an 

unprecedented strength in 

Jammu while PDP gained 

on these slogans in Kashmir. 

What happened thereafter, 

when the two parties took 

a complete U-turn on their 

respective positions and 

promises to the people made 

during elections, as a result 

the people feel betrayed and 

cheated. The people want to 

teach both the parties, a lesson, 

for having taken their 

sentiments and emotions for 

a ride, in order to enter the 

corridors of power. 

Mir said that the Prime 

Minister Narinder Modi 

spread falsehood about the 

Congress party and UPA but 

soon the people in different 

parts have felt that the elections 

slogans were coined 

as mere ‘Jumlas’ and the BJP 

government has failed to 

fulfill even a single promise. 

NEWS 

Better marketing, 

publicity campaign vital 

to promote tourism: Shah 


Jammu, Dec 13: Stressing upon the 

stakeholders associated with the tourism 

sector to work in unison to kick off 

a new campaign to tap the tourism potential 

of the state, Secretary Tourism 

Farooq Ahmed Shah said that tourism 

and hospitality industry is one of 

the key drivers of growth in the state 

which needs to be given impetus by 

collaborative efforts. 

He was speaking at a meeting convened 

with the representatives of various 

Travel and Trade associations from 

Jammu and Kashmir division to hold 

deliberations for providing inclusive 

and seamless touring experience to the 

tourists in the state. 

Special Secretary Tourism, M. H. 

Mir, Director Tourism, Kashmir, Mahmood 

Ahmed Shah, Director Tourism, 

Jammu R.K. Verma, and other senior 

officers were present in the meeting. 

Threadbare discussions were held 

on issues pertaining to tapping the 

tourism potential of all the areas and 

to chalk out effective marketing strategies 

to attract the pilgrims of Shri Mata 

Viashno Devi Shrine to other important 

tourist destinations in the State. 

Farooq Shah stressed that those 

associated with the tourism industry 

should ensure better facilities are 

provided to the tourists and attractive 

tour packages are offered which will 

showcase the unexplored destinations 

of both the regions .He said that attracting 

the pilgrims visiting the Holy 

Shrine to other places will definitely 

give a fillip to the tourism sector and 

the economy of the State. 

All the participants opined that 

it is important that a massive publicity 

campaign is launched across the 

country to tap the domestic tourists. 

They also stressed that tourism related 

information is provided at all the conspicuous 

places. 

The Secretary also directed the 

officers to the tourism department to 

keep a proper check on the services 

provided to the tourists and ensure 

they are not overcharged or face inconvenience 

.He asked them to take strict 

action against those indulging in any 

such malpractices which cause harassment 

of tourist. 

Later, the team also visited Katra 

and it was decided that a counter 

will be opened at Katra where the 

pilgrims can be provided information 

about various tourist destinations and 

packages are offered to various tourist 

destinations in the State. Farooq Shah 

stressed the need for better synergy 

between the local trade and tourist associations 

with their counterparts for 

giving impetus to the sector. 

The prominent who attended 

the meeting include Kashmir Travel 

Trade associated headed by Chairman 

PILTOP, Nasir Shah, Chairman AKTO, 

Nazir Mir, Chairman, DTOAK, Haji Hamid 

Wangnoo, Senior Vice Chairman, 

KHARA, Dr. Majid, Publicity Secretary 

HBOA, Manzoor Ahmed Kaloo, Secretary 

JKTA, Ashok Koul, representative 

of TAAT, S. Inderpal Singh, and representative 

ADTOI, Sheikh Hussain. The 

Jammu Travel Trade delegation was 

led by Kuldeep Wahi, Kushal Magotra, 

Abdhay Bakaya from Tourism federation 

Jammu, B B Kotwal from Bhaderwah 

travel agents association. 

Srinagar,Monday 


3 

Youth 

lynched 

in Reasi 

Jammu, Dec 13: A young 

man died of severe beating 

on Sunday in Reasi district 

and his friend received critical 

injuries after they allegedly 

entered a house in the night 

to meet a girl. Police arrested 

seven people for the incident. 

Rahul Kumar and 

Abhishek, both aged 21 and 

belonging to Udhampur 

town, entered a house on Saturday 

night in Bhagta village 

near Katra town to meet the 

girl, Reasi Senior Superintendent 

of Police Sujit Kumar 

told reporters here. 

"The girl's uncle saw the 

two and raised a hue and 

cry, after which the villagers 

gathered and beat them up 

severely with batons," the police 

officer said. 

Police from Katra rushed 

the critically injured youth to 

the Government Medical College 

and Hospital in Jammu 

where doctors pronounced 

Rahul dead. 

A case was lodged at the 

Katra police station.After the 

youth's death, sections of the 

penal code pertaining to culpable 

homicide were added 

to the first information report, 

the police officer said. 

Shah pays 

tribute to 

Sofi Akbar 

on 28th 

anniversary 


Srinagar, Dec 13: The incarcerated 

Chairman Democratic 

Freedom Party (DFP) 

Shabir Ahmad Shah on 

Sunday paid glowing tribute 

to Sofi Muhammad Akbar 

on his 28th anniversary, 

saying the pro-freedom 

leader strongly rejected the 

Indira-Abdullah Accord of 

1975. Shabir Ahmad Shah 

also expressed concern over 

the arrest of Saliq Ahmad 

Shah and his mother in 

Sopore, saying the Mufti-led 

government doesn’t even 

spare our mothers and 

sisters and condemned the 

fresh arrest spree launched 

across the valley. 

He demanded immediate 

release of students 

who were arrested in 

Hajin, Sopore, Pulwama and 

Pampore. 

“These students were 

shifted from one police 

station to other and are now 

lodged at Zadibal police 

station. Their parents are 

roaming through police 

stations across Srinagar 

since last week and have 

suffered heavily,” he said 

and warned authorities of 

serious consequences if the 

students are not released 

forthwith. 

Shujat’s 

health 

improving: 

Bukhari 


Srinagar, Dec 13: The health 

condition of renowned 

journalist and Editor in 

chief of Rising Kashmir, Dr 

Shujat Bukhari is improving, 

according to his family. 

Shujat’s brother and 

Minister for Law, Parliamentary 

Affairs, Relief and Rehabilitation, 

Syed Basharat 

Bukhari said over phone 

that there is improvement 

in his health condition. 

“It was a shock for the 

whole family and we are 

thankful to all those people 

who supported us in this 

bad time,” he said. 

Basharat appealed people 

to pray for the speedy 

recovery of his brother. 

Reports said various 

people and delegations 

including senior Congress 

leader and former Chief 

Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, 

Pakistan High Commissioner 

in New Delhi Basit Ali 

visited AIIMS to meet Dr 

Shujaat. (KNS) 

Senior Hurriyat (m) leader concerned 

over electricity crisis, slams PDP 


Srinagar, Dec 13: Different 

from its usual press 

releases, this Sunday a senior 

Hurriyat (m) leader 

expressed his resentment 

over the electricity crisis 

in Valley. 

Jammu Kashmir 

Peoples League (JKPL) 

Chairperson, Mukhtar Ahmad 

Waza, today visited 

several areas of Achabal 

in South Kashmir’s Islamabad 

district under “mass 

contact program” and 

slammed “puppet authorities 

for depriving people 

from basic necessities 

including electricity”. 

JKPL is a constituent 

of Hurriyat Conference 

led by Mirwaiz Umar 

Farooq. 

In a party statement, 

Waza said, “since 1947 

New Delhi with the active 

support of mainstream 

parties is looting the natural 

resources of valley 

but in return the innocent 

Kashmiris are being 

deprived of the basic 

amenities.” 

“NHPC is making millions 

of rupees by selling 

power generated from 

JK’s water resources but 

the state and its people 

are forced into perpetual 

financial and economic 

deprivation,” he said. 

He said that despite 

having number of power 

projects, state is reeling 

under complete darkness 

from last over two 

months. 

“Neither have we got 

our power projects back, 

nor any compensation 

for our water resources. 

NHPC is the replica of 

the modern day East 

India Company which 

is out to loot our state,” 

he said while slamming 

PDP which promised to 

retrieve back the power 

projects if voted to power. 

Waza said, “like water, 

New Delhi is looting our 

forests. J&K is fast loosing 

precious forest cover because 

of the New Delhi’s 

anti-Kashmir policies and 

Amnesty promise yet to be fulfilled 


Srinagar, Dec 13: Despite 

amnesty to stone pelters 

was PDP’s war cry in the run 

up of 2014 assembly polls 

in the state, the youth are 

still waiting for the promises 

done by the Mufti led government. 

Pertinently, PDP including 

Member of Parliament 

and its senior leader, 

Muzaffar Hussain Beigh 

have been heard promising 

the electorate that the party 

will revoke all the cases 

against the alleged stone 

throwers who were booked 

in during NC-Cong regime 

while Education Minister, 

Naeem Akhtar described 

these youth as ‘unfortunate 

victims of Omar Abdullah 

government. 

The number of youth 

who had been promised by 

the present regime during 

their election campaigning 

that their cases will be revoked 

after they will assume 

the charge in the state said 

that nothing has been done 

in this regard. 

The youth who were 

booked during 2010 agitation 

said that they were 

promised that if PDP will 

form the next dispensation 

in the state then they will 

revoke all the cases against 

the youth booked in 2010. 

“Amnesty to youth was a 

war cry of present regime 

during 2014 elections but 

after they came into the 

power, the whole promises 

done by the PDP leaders 

were only hoax,” they said. 

Shakir Ahmad Khan, 

a resident of Natipora 

who was booked in 2010 

agitation and against whom 

several cases have been 

registered, said, “Due to the 

delay in providing general 

amnesty, the authorities 

have put our educational 

career at stake.” 

He said that he including 

his classmates was 

proposed to go outside of 

the state to pursue higher 

education, adding, “The 

non-clearance of our case 

forces us to stop our studies 

till the authorities won’t 

provide any relief to us.” 

Khan who was allegedly 

involved in a charge of 

stone pelting under FIR No. 

204/2010 in September 

2010 said, “We approached 

several higher ups in this 

regard but all has fallen into 

deaf ears as nothing has 

been done so far.” 

“During the election 

campaigning People’s 

Democratic Party (PDP) had 

said that they will revoke 

all the cases against the 

youth who were involved in 

stone pelting in 2010 in case 

they come to the power. 

However, more than two 

months have passed but the 

Mufti led government is yet 

to take any initiative on the 

matter,” Ahmad added. 

Muhammad Ishfaq, 

another youth who was also 

booked during 2010 agitation 

under FIR no. 204/2010 

in Chanapora police station 

said, “As per government 

claims, we were expecting 

that the new dispensation 

will definitely revoke all the 

cases against us at earliest 

but unfortunately after 

passing more than 60 days 

of government formation, 

the cases are still biting dust 

in court.” 

Ishfaq against whom 

eight cases including 147, 

148, 149, 332, 336, 346, 

427 and 188 RPC has been 

registered in the police station, 

said that they appear 

before court in every month 

and have been asked by 

the magistrate to bring the 

other youth who were also 

booked at the same time in 

stone pelting, adding, “I can’t 

identify the persons who 

were booked along with me 

how will I find them.” 

agenda through which 

they want to push state 

into financial and economic 

deprivation.” 

Slamming New Delhi 

and state governments 

for “not rehabilitating the 

last year flood victims”, 

Waza said, “we (Hurriyat 

Conference) made it clear 

to world community that 

natural resources of Kashmir 

had been looted or 

occupied by Indian government 

so the territory 

alone couldn’t meet the 

challenge of rehabilitating 

the flood-affected 

people, however, 

New Delhi and puppet 

state governments 

blocked all the international 

channels that 

were ready to help 

Kashmiris including 

OIC.” 

Waza appealed to 

the overseas Kashmiris 

to work like “ambassadors 

for the oppressed 

Kashmiri people” and 

reach out the international 

community, NGOs and 

civil societies so that they 

could actively take part 

in rehabilitating the flood 

victims of Kashmir. 

Hurriyat (g) to boycott BSNL ‘if 

obscene messages not stopped’ 


Srinagar, Dec 13: Taking 

Union government run 

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited 

head-on, All Parties 

Hurriyat Conference led by 

Syed Ali Geelani Sunday alleged 

that the tele-services 

company has been sending, 

continuously, “obscene and 

dirty messages (SMS and 

Service Messages)” to its 

customers in Kashmir. 

“If this process doesn’t 

stop forthwith, Hurriyat 

Conference will appeal the 

people to boycott the services 

of this telecom company 

in the state,” Hurriyat 

Conference spokesperson, 

Ayaz Akbar cautioned. 

“Jammu & Kashmir 

has remained a rich state of 

cultural and moral values 

and the government institutions 

under the agenda 

of cultural aggression want 

to eliminate these values of 

the state on different fronts 

so that this nation will 

also take the same route of 

the destroyed nations and 

along with the freedom 

struggle, their mental 

affiliation will also get 

weakened,” Akbar said. 

“The people who 

are using the BSNL SIM 

cards are regularly and 

continuously receiving the 

obscene messages in which 

some selected telephone 

numbers and names of 

girls with their age are 

given and the subscribers 

are asked to call on these 

numbers and talk with 

the given names who are 

waiting for them and on 

the other side the girls 

have been employed for 

this purpose who can talk 

any kind of language. 

Besides all this, the 

government service 

provider sends so obscene 

messages to its customers 

which a civilized person 

can hardly look at and he 

feels ashamed after reading 

it,” Akbar said, “BSNL is 

a government institution 

and these kinds of 

shameful activities of such 

an organization is proof of 

this fact that these things 

are not only done in the 

pursuit of earning money 

but it has a well thought 

agenda at its back which is 

aimed to destroy the moral 

character of the teenagers 

and youths of Kashmir.” 

“Hurriyat Conference 

strongly condemns this obscenity 

action of the BSNL 

telecom company and 

want to send a message 

to the organization that if 

they will not change their 

policy and will not stop 

to send these Messages 

to the subscribers, we 

will be forced to appeal 

for boycott of the services 

of this company to the 

people,” Akbar asserted. 

Dangal’ experience changed my 

life: Kashmiri actor Zaira Wasim 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Zaira Wasim, 

who was unknown a few months ago, 

is being talked about in her native 

Kashmir after landing a role in superstar 

Aamir Khan’s upcoming movie 

“Dangal”. 

Competing with a thousand girls, Zaira 

never thought she would ever get a 

chance to land a role in the film. But 

luck was on her side, as she bagged 

the role of wrestler Geeta Phogat and 

got the chance to share screen space 

with Aamir. After completing shooting 

for six months in Mumbai, Zaira is 

now back in Srinagar. 

“I was like new to the (showbiz) world 

and felt nervous when I was working 

with my co-actors on the sets”, Zaira 

told IANS on the phone. 

“The experience has been so strong to 

change my life. Playing Geeta Phogat, 

the role demanded wrestling skills on 

my part. I had to go through rigorous 

physical and mental training,” added 

the 15-year-old Zaira, who is currently 

in Class 10. 

Phogat is the first woman wrestler 

from India to have won the gold in the 

55 kg freestyle category at the 2010 

Commonwealth Games. In “Dangal”, 

Aamir plays wrestler Mahavir Singh 

Phogat, who trained his two daughters 

in the sport. 

Zaira’s training included exhaustive 

morning sessions of running, 

swimming and wrestling. The training 

made her learn to overcome anxieties. 

“Before ‘Dangal’, I had done two 

ads. I got a call from Mukesh Chabra 

(the film’s casting director) to 

attend an important workshop for 

a week. I went to Mumbai to attend 

the workshop. There were a lot of 

girls who had already done one or 

more ads or serials and I had to do 

some scenes in front of them; so, I 

was like ‘there is no space for me’,” 

she said. 

Like other parents, Zaira too had to 

convince her parents to support her 

decision to act in the film, more so 

being from Kashmir. 

“It was my school principal and my 

aunt who supported my decision. 

BSNL is a government institution 

and these kinds of shameful activities 

of such an organization is 

proof of this fact that these things 

are not only done in the pursuit 

of earning money but it has a well 

thought agenda at its back 

They both convinced my parents and 

handled the situation very well,” Zaira 

said. 

As the word of her shooting for the 

film spread, some netizens began 

trolling and bullying her and also 

issued self-styled life threats. 

“Some nasty comments about me 

were posted on social media. But 

Aamir Khan and the rest of the crew 

helped me. I am still getting comments 

from unknown persons, but I 

believe in positivity and have learned 

how to deal with such comments,” 

she said. 

“To be honest, after getting back to 

Kashmir and being a girl, it haunts me 

how people would feel about me now. 

But I saw appreciation and support 

from my friends, family and other 

neighbours and I am really honoured 

that people are telling me I am representing 

Kashmir,” she added. 

Zaira said that the people in Kashmir 

should “realise their talent” as they 

have a “lot of potential and ability”. 

Does she have any plans for future in 

Bollywood? 

“I don’t have any goal or any aim 

which I have to follow; I am going 

with the flow that life shows me... 

I want to study, but if another film 

offer comes my way in future and 

doesn’t affect my studies I will take 

it,” Zaira concluded.

Precious Kashmir 

Edit 

Srinagar,Monday 

14.12.2015 4 

Govt teachers in 

private tuition? 

Being part of the same crowd of vulnerable and uncertain 

student community that flocks the tuition centres and people 

who provide tuitions and after experiencing the miseries of 

this, we always aspired for this system to be accommodative 

to the student concerns besides, ensuring student friendly 

functioning and accountability. All these thoughts used to cross 

our minds during our pre-college days and finally we joined 

a new phase and giving way to new class of vulnerable and 

dreamful masses, experiencing the same journey and nothing 

changed except the tuition fee souring new heights and tuition 

centres turning it into big enterprise. Finally, the government 

woke up and little changes were initiated in 2013 and after that 

we had a change in government itself and this issue appeared 

to have been brought to the Centre stage with various new and 

innovative initiatives being suggested. All this gave flip to our 

hopes and we were optimistic that some substantial changes 

would take place in the way our educational sector functions. A 

year has passed since then, new promises hitting the dailies every 

second day but nothing substantial has been achieved yet, 

except for more frequent inspections to the schools and tuition 

hubs which is a welcome step but far less than what people and 

particularly students aspire for. 

Instead government seems to be more serious about barring 

the public sector teachers from giving private tuitions even 

during non-school hours than ensuring the basic requirements 

of curriculum are met. To make this issue even more complex, 

the government clubbed this with the already complex and 

intricate issue of unemployment by suggesting that instead 

of these teachers providing tuitions, they envisaged a system 

where government teachers would be replaced by the selected 

youth from the unemployed masses capable of delivering the 

service, who would be selected through proper examination in 

order to ensure higher benchmarks and quality education but 

this idea, as revolutionary as it may seem is simply impractical 

unless there are structural and behavioural changes which if 

history is to bear testimony takes ages altogether. We are yet 

to hear about any policy decision on the selection of people 

eligible to replace government teachers, neither anything 

about the fate of tuition centres. Schools continue to remain 

far behind from completing the syllabi and tuition centres 

rendered incapable. With most of educational calendar lost to 

controversy and winter already reaching our door steps. The 

only viable alternative left with the government is to use its 

own machinery, the government schools during winters and 

facilitate the government teachers to provide voluntary service 

by providing them some incentives for teaching students in 

their nearest schools during winter vacations. The teachers 

should also consider taking this a social responsibility or let 

the tuition centres function hassle free by regulating them on 

student friendly lines. 

OTHER OPINION 

The real threat of foreign 

fighters in Syria 

In its initial report: Foreign Fighters in Syria, released by the Soufan 

Group in June 2014, it was estimated that approximately 12,000 foreign 

fighters from 81 countries had travelled there since 2011. Most 

joined the ranks of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), 

Jabhat al-Nusra, or Ahrar al-Sham. 

In a follow up report released by the Soufan Group just last week, it 

was estimated that those numbers more than doubled in the last 18 

months to between 27,000 and 31,000 from 86 countries - a stark 

dose of reality that the foreign-fighter phenomenon has not only exploded 

in numbers but is global in nature. 

Consider: The number of foreign fighters from Western Europe more 

than doubled in the last 18 months, from 2,500 in 2014, to over 5,000. 

Most of them come from just four countries - France with 1,700, the 

UK and Germany with 760 each, and Belgium with 470. 

In Russia, those numbers have gone up three fold - from 800 in 2014, 

to 2,400 by September 2015 - most coming from Chechnya and 

Dagestan in the North Caucasus. According to Russian President Vladimir 

Putin, that number is as high as 5,000 to 7,000 when fighters 

from the former Soviet republics are included. 

Startling numbers 

In North Africa and the Middle East the numbers are even more startling, 

with over 16,000 fighters having travelled to Syria and Iraq. 

Tunisians make up the largest contingent of foreign fighters overall, 

with an estimated 6,000. That’s double the number from 2014. Saudi 

Arabians make up the next largest contingent with 2,500, followed by 

Jordanians with 2,000. 

Other countries in the region with significant numbers include Morocco 

- 1,200; Lebanon - 900; Libya - 600; Egypt - 600; and Algeria 

- 170. 

The process of radicalisation and reasons for the foreign fighter flow 

to Syria and Iraq vary from region to region. 

Turkey, too, has had its share of foreign fighters, with approximately 

2,100 having gone to Syria and Iraq, although many of them have 

already returned home. According to Turkish authorities, 500 of its 

citizens have been imprisoned for joining ISIL, and another 100 for 

joining Jabhat al-Nusra. 

Printer, Publisher, Owner : Afaq Ahmad Bhat 

Editor: Afaq Ahmad Bhat 

Legal Advisor: Hakim Sami Yaqoob (Advocate) 

Published From: Rajbagh Opposite Radio Colony Srinagar 

J&K 

Printed At: Alsafa Printing Press Hazuri Bagh Srinagar 

RNI No: JKENG/2013/55310 

Cell No: 9419081703 

Email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com 

Why Kashmir Needs A Literature Of Its Own? 

Ghulam Mohammad Khan 

The former US admiral and commander of NATO 

in Europe James Stavridis’ interesting injunction to 

read and closely scrutinize Russian Literature in order 

to get to the ‘soul of Russia’; its public behavior 

and political actions to the people and politicians of 

Europe in general and America in particular, vindicates 

the relevance and authenticity of ‘Literature’, 

the discipline otherwise adjudged by many as 

something simulated or apocryphal. To figure out 

any possibility of getting closer to the otherwise 

cryptic Kremlin foreign policy, Stavridis preferred 

the reading of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment 

and Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace over the works of 

Stephen Cohen, Zbigniew Brzezinski and many other 

outstanding scholars in Russian studies. Marxism, 

a groundbreaking philosophy that still continues to 

be the obsession with intellectuals across the globe, 

is thematically not so different with what Dickens, 

Trollope and Thackeray forewarn in their novels. After 

attaining a Reader’s Ticket to the British Library 

Reading Room in 1849, Karl Marx voraciously consumed 

the volumes of Dickens, Bronte sisters, and 

Thackeray. The Victorian Novel perfectly ‘estranges’ 

or ‘defamiliarizes’ the thematics of Marxian oeuvre. 

Marx himself confessed that Dickens, Thackeray, 

and the Bronte sisters, “have issued to the world 

more political and social truths than have been uttered 

by all the professional politicians, publicists 

and moralists put together”. Literature, therefore, 

is not something merely imaginative, figurative, 

aesthetic, and rhythmic or something that only imbricates 

a world of abstractions or unfounded philosophical 

meditations. In fact where a historian, due 

to some political pressures, fails to record the events 

judiciously, literature can still come up with a more 

reliable narrative. Literary discourse, as Terry Eagleton 

believes estranges or alienates ordinary speech, 

but in doing so, paradoxically, brings us into a fuller, 

more intimate possession of experience. 

If ‘Literature’ has such significance and relevance, 

then Kashmir, given its vulnerable political environment, 

a convoluted political history, and tough living 

conditions, desperately needs a strong independent 

architecture of literary accomplishments, which 

would survive as the perfect apotheosis of the collective 

Kashmiri memory of anguish and affliction, 

of distress and deceit, of death and disappearance, 

of pain and protest, of beauty and the beast. Though 

we have a rare creed of literary stalwarts and a long 

tradition of literary imagination, but we lack a group 

or groups of poets or writers, who could perfectly 

capture the ‘sociological imagination’ of an age in its 

variety and complexity as we see the literary actors 

doing in other parts of the country in particular and 

the world in general. We should learn from the way 

Raja Rao, Mulk Raj Anand and R.K. Narayan, the great 

triumvirate of Indian novel, represent the socio-political 

and cultural imagination of an age, or from the 

way Dickens, Thackeray and Bronte sisters capture 

the soul of Victorian England or the triumvirate of 

Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen 

systematically produce a substantial body of literature 

representing the gory experiences of war. The 

huge chunk of the literature written in Kashmiri 

language is either an omnium-gatherum of disparate 

philosophical abstractions yoked together in 

abstruse verbal mechanics or something impregnated 

with the profuse of romantic and imaginative 

ebullience and sensual and spiritual delight. Barring 

a few progressive poets and writers, who metaphorically 

expressed the common man’s cause, the rest 

of the troupe was and its progeny still continues 

to be strangely enmeshed with that ‘airy nothing’. 

We have a body of literature, but why could not it 

keep Basharat Peer from blushing or feeling almost 

ashamed as he walked across a line of book-shops 

in Delhi? The eye-pooping titles of the books and 

the relevant issues they covered might have pinched 

Peer’s heart as to why his own valley, where the 

simmering political crises and depraved human life 

were enough equipment to produce hundreds of 

masterpieces, failed or lagged far behind in creating 

a single similar book. Here, the big repository of 

books in Kashmir University’s Allama Iqbal Library 

on the religious, geographical, cultural and socio-political 

history of Kashmir or our diverse newspaper 

columns, editorials or opinion pages should not be 

confused as Literature. Literary and non-literary 

value-judgments exist separately. We can include 

Charles Lamb and Macaulay in nineteenth century 

English literature, but we cannot include Karl Marx 

and Jeremy Bentham. 

We have a big oeuvre of books written on the 

thematics of conflict, its emergence, escalation and 

consequences, but unfortunately we have a meager, 

almost inconsiderable Literature on the same. The 

magnitude of Kashmir Issue, its impact on the psychological 

health of the inhabitants of the land, its 

gifts of political and ethical degeneration and disillusionment, 

its annihilation of an age-old community 

kindredship should have produced an unprecedented 

literary corpus. Our poets and writers writing in 

Kashmiri language must realize their grave injustice 

to the cause. Don’t they find it is time to replace the 

hide-bound subject matter of recondite and irrelevant 

philosophical musings with social issues like 

the adversity of the conflict and its impact on social 

life? Though some literary efforts were made towards 

the close of the last decade to represent the 

harrowing political culture, but it needs a strong 

burgeoning and sustenance. Agha Shahid Ali came 

on the scene earlier, but his literary dealings with the 

Kashmir imbroglio did not go beyond a small collection 

of poems. Interestingly, these new attempts at 

representing the conflict in literary writings come in 

English language, and not in the local Kashmiri language. 

Let’s focus on why we need our own Literature 

and how can it immortalize, survive and glorify 

the condition of life in the times conflict better than 

any other subject or discipline of thought? 

Literature is not merely an ‘organized violence 

committed on ordinary speech’ or an imaginative 

way of looking for a similitude in the fantastic universal 

dissimilitude; it is a more tried-and-true substitute 

than history or philosophy to represent the 

multifarious dimensions and complexities of human 

life. It is a form of permanent insurrection that 

not only reflects nations but also invents them. The 

American professor of Political Science, Raymond 

Taras rightly observes, “Novels [literature] chart 

subterranean cultural and political cleavages within 

the society, and have the freedom to do so. Politics, 

on the other hand, plays out contests in a dualistic 

Abuse of Antibiotics? 

Zeenat Farooq, 

Antibiotics or anti-bacterial are a type of 

antimicrobial used specifically against 

bacteria and are often used in medical 

treatment of bacterial infections. They 

may either kill or inhibit the growth of 

bacteria. Several antibiotic agents are also effective 

against a number of fungi, protozoans and some are 

toxic to humans and animals, even when given in 

therapeutic dosage. 

Antibiotics revolutionized medicine in the 20th 

century, and have together with vaccination led to 

the near eradication of diseases such as Tuberculosis 

in the developed world. Their effectiveness and easy 

access led to overuse, especially in live-stock raising, 

prompting bacteria to develop resistance. This 

has led to widespread problems with antimicrobial 

and antibiotic resistance, so much as to prompt the 

World Health Organization to classify antimicrobial 

resistance as a “serious threat that is no longer a 

prediction for the future, it is happening right now 

in every region of the world and has the potential to 

affect anyone, of any age, in any country”. 

Antibiotic Abuse: It literally stands for indiscriminate 

overuse of antibiotics. It is said that more than 

1/3 of the antibiotics used are over prescribed or 

abused. Antibiotics are a very common type of medication 

– they also happen to be quite misunderstood. 

While they are effective at treating many bacterial 

infections, antibiotics will not treat viral illness (such 

as the cold and flu) and have been overused for years. 

Because of this overuse, we are now dealing with the 

problem of antibiotic resistance. This means that the 

antibiotics we have used for so long are no longer 

effective at treating the bacteria they were designed 

to kill. 

Some of the common reasons for 

antibiotic abuse are: 

Doctors who allow themselves into prescribing 

antibiotics when they know its for a virus or that 

there are alternatives. 

Doctors who prescribe an inadequate supply of 

antibiotics so that more drug resistant organisms 

grow. 

Doctors who rely solely on antibiotic therapy 

and forget to mention adequate rest, fluids, stop 

smoking, etc. 

Patients who insist on an antibiotic with every 

sniffle or sneeze. 

Patients who take a couple of antibiotic pills 

whenever they feel “sick”. 

Patients get frustrated with their symptoms of 

sickness and pressure doctors into prescribing antibiotics. 

Deleterious Effects of Antibiotic Abuse: The side 

effects of antibiotics often outweigh their benefits. 

Some of the deleterious effects associated with Antibiotic 

abuse are: 

The risk of breast cancer is in proportion to the 

frequency of antibiotic use. 

The abuse of antibiotic in now associated with 

increase of asthma, allergic skin conditions, and urinary 

infections. 

In hospitals all over the world, perhaps most often 

in the countries with the most advanced medicine; 

people are dying of infections because bacteria 

have become drug resistant due to antibiotic abuse. 

Antibiotics are one of the most common medications 

taken by pregnant women. A new study has 

made connections between antibiotics use during 

pregnancy and incidence of birth defects. Sulfonamides 

and Nitrofurantoins were each associated 

with several birth defects – women who took these 

classes of antibiotics while pregnant were found to 

be 2-4 times more likely to give birth to a baby with 

a heart defect. The more commonly used Penicillin, 

Erythromycins, and Cephalosporin were each associated 

with at least one birth defect. 

Antibiotics are not harmless medications and 

should be reserved for severe (and carefully documented) 

bacterial infections – infections that would 

seriously threaten the health of the patient if left untreated. 

We have powerful immune systems which, 

when supported by excellent nutrition, will clear the 

more moderate infections without help from drugs. 

Good bacteria in the gut help people in many 

ways, including helping make vitamins and boosting 

immunity. Research has proved that killing them 

off with antibiotics may be contributing to rises in 

chronic health conditions such as obesity, asthma 

and Type 1 diabetes in children. 

and binary universe aimed at overcoming an adversary 

rather than unearthing absolute truths.” This 

stands true when we critically evaluate a small body 

of literary work produced by the writers like Agha 

Shahid Ali, Basharat Peer, Siddhartha Gigoo, Mirza 

Waheed, Sudha Koul, Rahul Pandita, Shahnaz Bashir, 

and a few others. Take the example of Basharat 

Peer’s memoir Curfewed Night or Mirza Waheed’s 

The Collaborator or Gigoo’s The Garden of Solitude: 

all three of the exemplary literary documents from 

Kashmir powerfully highlight those ‘mini-narratives’, 

which had always been crashed out by the 

dominant (political) meta-narratives, and which 

our bulk of books on political history of Kashmir has 

failed to foreground. Basharat Peer’s Curfewed Night 

“does a great deal to bring the Kashmir Conflict out 

of the realm of political rhetoric between India and 

Pakistan and into the lives of Kashmiris”. Peer’s Curfewed 

Night is not a fictional representation of the 

different faces of terrorism in Kashmir, but an authentic 

account of the gory realities of war based on 

real life experiences. Peer’s heart is heavily burdened 

by his ghastful encounters with various maimed and 

muddled victims of the war. Feeling overburdened 

by these realities, Peer criticizes the apathetic politics 

of war and different linguistic constructions, 

loaded with the poison of ideological antagonism at 

the end of the memoir. 

Mirza Waheed’s The Collaborator (his greatest 

literary-cum-intellectual effort till date. The prose 

of the novel is intensely poetic, exceptionally descriptive, 

and above all perfectly chiseled) again 

highlights the devastating conflict by focusing the 

narrative not on politics or ministers or bureaucrats 

or irrelevant Sufi philosophical musings, but on the 

travails, agony and helplessness of a remote insurgency 

and counter-insurgency hit family, a village. 

Mirza Waheed tells the story of those, who have 

had been discarded and disowned by the politically 

motivated history. Similarly, Gigoo’s ‘polyphonic’ 

or ‘heteroglossic’ text The Garden of Solitude artistically 

entwines a number of disparate experiences 

related to militant uprising and the havoc it played 

with the common man. Another significant aspect 

of the novel is its escape from the convoluted historical-cum-political 

narratives based on the exodus of 

Kashmiri Pandit community and its focus on human 

experience in a given situation. By focusing on the 

actual lived human experience, Gigoo creates a more 

relevant narrative that could have been otherwise 

lost in the darkness of history. 

It is time to construct a well-built structure on 

the foundations laid down by these writers otherwise; 

our collective memory of the conflict will be 

permanently lost for the generations to come. We do 

not have to dig in and look for the content; we can 

feed the white paper on the rubble of the conflict for 

decades to come. We desperately need a literature 

of our own because, as George Henry Lewes opines, 

“Literature is at once the cause and the effect of social 

progress. It deepens our natural sensibilities, and 

strengthens by exercise our intellectual capacities. It 

stores up the accumulated experience of the race, 

connecting Past and Present into a conscious unity; 

and with this store it feeds successive generations, to 

be fed in turn by them.” 

(Source: countercurrents.org) 

As antibiotic use has increased, studies have 

shown that the kinds of bacteria that we live with 

are changing. 

Antibiotic overdue weakens the immune system 

and hence increases our susceptibility to opportunistic 

infections and cancer. 

It is, therefore, clear that a lot of education is 

needed for both the public and healthcare providers. 

Although most doctors and other healthcare providers 

know that antibiotics will not treat viral illnesses, 

they need to be better equipped to educate their patients 

about antibiotic resistance. 

How to Tackle the Situation? 

Changing the way people look at medications 

and illnesses is not an easy task. In the past, it was 

thought that even though an antibiotic may not 

help a patient get better any faster, it wouldn’t do 

any harm. But now we know that the opposite is 

true. By prescribing these antibiotics so frequently 

and needlessly, bacteria have become stronger 

and more resistant to the medications we have. 

This makes it necessary to develop new drugs that 

are stronger, which usually pose more severe side 

effects — and no patient wants that. 

Tail piece: 

So the next time you get sick and feel like you 

may need antibiotics take a good look at your situation 

and discuss it with your healthcare provider. If 

he or she tells you that you have a virus, don’t push 

for antibiotics. The typical viral illness lasts between 

7 and 10 days. So you should get better in about a 

week. And holding off on the antibiotics will help 

you avoid unpleasant side effects and potentially 

stronger illnesses in the future. 

{ Source KL} 

Website: www.preciouskashmir.com >>>>>>>>> Please send your articles and letters on preciouskashmir@gmail.com >>>>>>>>>


Sensex Nifty Gold 

Business/ International 

Monday 

5 



Silver Dollar J&K Bank Yes Bank SBI ICICI Bank HDFC Bank 

207.89 

72.85 

261.00 

232.00 

0.17 

0.85 

26.50 

4.65 

9.65 

14.25 

25044.43 

7610.45 

25,679.00 

33,983.00 

66.88 

76.90 

680.60 

227.30 

249.30 

1,046.35 

Fed meet, inflation numbers key drivers 

for markets this week 

Mumbai, Dec 13: Trading in the stock 

market this week would be influenced 

by inflation data and outcome of the key 

US Federal Reserve rate decision, with 

stocks likely to witness volatility in the 

near term, say experts. 

“Inflation data and US Fed action will 

dominate action this week. We expect 

the downside bias to continue in Indian 

equities,” said Ravi Shenoy, AVP-Midcaps 

Research, Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. 

Inflation data for November based on 

the wholesale price index (WPI) and the 

consumer price index (CPI) will be out on 

Monday. 

Stock markets on Monday may also 

react to IIP data, which came post market 

hours on Friday. 

In a robust turnaround, industrial output 

grew at a five- year high rate of 9.8% 

in October on impressive performance of 

capital and consumer goods, possibly driven 

by Diwali season demand. 

“Monetary policy decision by the US 

Federal Reserve, macroeconomic data 

and trend in global markets will dictate 

trend on the bourses this week. On the 

domestic front, the non-functioning Parliament 

is an added concern. Investors’ 

focus is on whether the GST Bill will be 

passed,” said Vijay Singhania, Founder- 

Director, Trade Smart Online. 

“Considering the GST Bill and upcoming 

Fed policy meet, we continue 

to hold our negative view on Nifty and 

expect volatility to touch newer highs in 

the coming week.” 

On the global front, investors will 

keenly watch the outcome of the US 

Fed’s two-day meeting scheduled for 

Tuesday and Wednesday. 

“Federal Reserve’s two-day policy 

meet starts from Tuesday and globally, 

investors in emerging markets, including 

India, are worried that once the Fed 

starts raising interest rates, it will drain 

Sebi puts in place software testing 

norms for commodities market 

Paris, Dec 13: Foreign ministers 

were poised to endorse a UNbrokered 

national unity plan for 

Libya at a Rome conference aimed 

at prodding the North Africa country’s 

bickering factions to fulfill their 

commitment to sign the agreement 

and abide by its terms. 

Libya slid into chaos following 

the 2011 toppling and killing of Dictator 

Muammar Qaddafi. Since then, 

it has been torn between an internationally 

recognized government in 

eastern Tobruk and militant-backed 

government in the capital, Tripoli, 

and now faces threats from ISIS extremists. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry 

was heading from the climate talks 

in Paris to host the Sunday meeting 

in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister 

Paolo Gentiloni that was drawing 

representatives from Libya’s neighbors 

and other countries. American 

officials expected the ministers to endorse 

the U.N. deal that Libya’s bickering 

factions have said they intend to 

sign in Morocco on Wednesday. 

New Delhi, Dec 13: To prevent 

possible manipulation, 

Sebi has made it compulsory 

for commodity brokers and 

traders to get their trading 

systems as well as software 

tools tested in consultation 

with the exchanges. 

Sebi’s guidelines related 

to testing of software and 

trading systems are already 

applicable for stock exchanges 

and would now be 

applicable for commodity 

bourses. 

Commodity markets 

have come under the regulatory 

ambit of Sebi following 

the merger of Forward Markets 

Commission (FMC) with 

the capital market watchdog 

in September. 

Since new software 

or changes to the existing 

software without proper 

testing may affect the integrity 

of the markets, the 

regulator said the guidelines 

are being made applicable 

to commodity 

markets also, Sebi said in 

a circular. 

The latest move would 

help prevent possible manipulations 

of softwares being 

used in the commodity 

market. 

On account of technological 

developments 

and innovations, Sebi said 

members of exchanges have 

multiple options for using 

software — either those 

provided by the bourses or 

developed in-house — for 

trading and risk manage- 

The plan calls for the creation 

within 40 days of a national unity 

government that would then seek 

security assistance from outside 

parties to ease the conflict and concentrate 

on ISIS. It would give the 

Libyans until early February to form 

a presidency council that would appoint 

a cabinet, including chiefs of 

the central bank and national oil 

company, and begin the process of 

moving the Tobruk-based parliament 

back to Tripoli. 

Libya’s oil industry has been 

largely crippled by the crisis. Proper 

management, as well as that of the 

central bank, is considered essential 

to the country’s viability. 

The plan would extend the reconstituted 

parliament’s term by 

one year and allow for an automatic 

one-year extension of its mandate 

beyond that, if necessary. The UN 

Security Council is expected to approve 

of the agreement shortly after 

it is signed by the Libyans. 

ISIS is trying to extend its influence 

beyond areas it now controls, 

ment related activities. 

The circular would 

come into force for commodity 

markets from April 

1, 2016. 

The guidelines pertain 

to various aspects of trading 

systems including testing of 

software, approval of software 

used by brokers/members 

and sharing of Application 

Programming Interface 

(API) specifications by the 

members. 

Besides, a penalty 

would be levied in case 

there is malfunctioning of 

software used by brokers or 

members. 

Sebi had issued the 

guidelines for the securities 

market to “avoid any 

disruption like event due to 

malfunctioning of software 

used by the trading members/brokers, 

it was felt 

necessary to strengthen the 

process of testing of software 

before deployment”. 

liquidity from global emerging markets 

and redirect it to developed economies,” 

said Singhania. 

Meanwhile, continuing with their 

selling spree, foreign investors have 

pulled out nearly Rs 5,500 crore from 

stock markets since the beginning of December. 

The latest sell-off comes after foreign 

portfolio investors (FPIs) withdrew Rs 

7,074 crore from the equities last month. 

Over the past week, the BSE benchmark 

Sensex fell by 593.68 points, or 

2.31%, to 25,044.43. 

Meanwhile, The combined market 

valuation of top five Sensex companies 

plummeted by Rs 47,445.38 crore last 

week in line with an overall weak broader 

market. 

While RIL, HDFC Bank, ITC, CIL and 

ONGC saw erosion in their market capitalisation, 

TCS, Infosys, HDFC, Sun Pharma 

and HUL emerged as the gainers in 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Remaining 

bullish on equity 

markets, domestic mutual 

fund houses have purchased 

shares worth nearly Rs 

69,000 crore so far this year, 

even though overseas investors 

scaled back their investments. 

In comparison, Foreign 

Portfolio Investors (FPIs) 

made a net investment of 

just Rs 15,136 crore during 

the period. 

However, in the last 

three years, foreign funds 

have made an average investment 

of $ 20 billion each 

in the Indian stock markets. 

According to the latest 

Sebi data, mutual fund (MF) 

managers have invested a 

net Rs 68,924 crore so far 

this year in the equity markets, 

higher than a net sum 

of Rs 23,842 crore infused in 

the entire 2014. 

Foreign ministers set to endorse 

Libyan unity plan 

Fire at Russian psychiatric 

hospital kills 23 

Moscow, Dec 13: Twenty-three psychiatric 

patients, most of them elderly, died when 

a fire ripped through their care facility in 

southern Russia Saturday night, in the latest 

tragedy to hit mental health hospitals in the 

country. 

“The bodies of 23 people have been 

found during an on-site inspection,” the Investigative 

Committee said in a statement 

on Sunday, adding that a further 23 people 

were hospitalized. 

Seventy patients and four nurses were 

in the ward when the fire broke out shortly 

before midnight (2100 GMT) Saturday at the 

hospital in the village of Alferovka, located 

in the southern Voronezh region. 

Most of those who perished in the 

blaze were in their 60s and 70s, although 

some were in their 40s and 50s, according 

to a list of patients released by the emergencies 

ministry. 

The state-owned Rossiya 24 rolling news 

channel said those who died were bedridden 

patients who had been given tranquillizers. 

“They simply did not wake up,” a correspondent 

reported from the scene. 

The fire reduced the wooden hospital 

building to its scorched foundations, with 

footage showing rescue workers combing 

through the smoking ruins. 

It took more than 440 firefighters and 

emergency workers around three hours to 

bring the fire under control. 

The Investigative Committee, which 

reports directly to President Vladimir Putin, 

said it opened a criminal probe into the 

deaths on suspicion of negligence. 

Experts are looking into what triggered 

the blaze, investigators said. 

including the city of Sirte. The envisioned 

“government of national accord” 

is seen as critically important 

to help restore security and to mobilize 

international support to counter 

the extremists. 

The United Nations and many 

countries concerned about Libyan 

crisis and the rise of ISIS stepped up 

efforts to get the rival governments 

to accept the power-sharing agreement 

since the factions rejected the 

deal in October. 

“Libya is in a race against time,” 

the UN special envoy for the country, 

Martin Kobler, told the U.N. Security 

Council on Friday. “Its very social 

fabric, national unity and territorial 

the domestic m-cap chart. 

Over the past week, the BSE benchmark 

Sensex fell by 593.68 points, or 2.31 

per cent, to 25,044.43. 

Meanwhile, the market valuation 

of CIL tumbled Rs 17,306.84 crore to Rs 

1,94,322.95 crore, taking the biggest hit 

among the top 10 firms. 

ITC’s m-cap plunged by Rs 11,807.7 

crore to Rs 2,57,761.30 crore and that of 

ONGC was down by Rs 10,352.15 crore at 

Rs 1,84,370.81 crore. 

Similarly, RIL lost Rs 4,358.2 crore to 

The surge in inflows into 

equity schemes has prompted 

fund houses to pump 

money in the share markets. 

Equity MFs, including 

equity-linked savings 

scheme, have seen a net 

inflow of nearly Rs 87,000 

crore till November this 

year. 

“Domestic mutual funds 

have been bullish on the 

Rs 3,08,453.89 crore and HDFC Bank took 

a hit of Rs 3,620.49 crore at Rs 2,63,867.25 

crore in m-cap. 

In stark contrast, TCS’ valuation 

surged Rs 11,251.14 crore to Rs 4,70,390.41 

crore and that of HUL climbed Rs 1,211.98 

crore to Rs 1,77,642.98 crore. 

Infosys added Rs 1,045.11 crore to its 

valuation of Rs 2,41,718.97 crore and Sun 

Pharma Rs 479.11 crore to its m-cap of Rs 

1,82,432.78 crore. 

The m-cap of HDFC went up by Rs 

442.22 crore to Rs 1,85,390.65 crore. 

MFs buy shares worth Rs 69K 

crore, FPIs just Rs 15K crore 

integrity is directly endangered by 

the forces of extremism and terrorism.” 

Kobler mediated the meeting at 

which some 40 Libyan lawmakers 

from the two sides agreed to sign 

the deal this Wednesday. 

The Security Council has welcomed 

that date and expressed 

“grave concern” at the expansion 

of ISIS extremists and their threat 

to Libya and the region. Council 

members “stressed that a unity 

government must be formed 

swiftly to counter this threat” and 

they again threatened sanctions 

against those impeding the restoration 

of peace and stability. 

Syria, Dec 13: Dozens of civilians 

were killed in attacks 

by Syrian government and 

Russian forces on Sunday in 

Syria’s Damascus suburbs, 

sources told Al Jazeera. 

Ahmad, an officer from 

the Douma branch of the 

Syrian Civil Defence department, 

told Al Jazeera that 

government air strikes and 

rocket barrages targeted 

Ghouta district in the Damascus 

suburbs. 

“At least 35 civilians 

were killed in the attacks on 

Douma alone, another 250 

have been injured,” he said. 

“A school was targeted, in 

which injured students have 

been taken to the nearest 

medical points.” 

The raids began at 

about 8:30am local time 

(06.30GMT). 

“In the past three 

months, these areas have 

been constantly targeted by 

rocket attacks and air strikes, 

not one of those killed was a 

stock market ever since the 

Narendra Modi-led BJP government 

came to power at 

the Centre,” Quantum AMC 

Managing Director and 

Chief Information Officer I V 

Subramaniam said. 

In addition, robust inflows 

from retail investors 

in the equity segment have 

also helped. 

Till April last year, holdings 

were facing liquidation 

due to redemption from 

investors and the money 

started pouring in from May 

2014 and the momentum 

continued till this month. 

They have made intensive 

buying especially 

in August and September 

2015, when the domestic 

market crashed due to rout 

in Chinese equities. During 

that time, overseas investors 

pulled out from the Indian 

stock markets. 

The sell-off by overseas 

investors in the Indian equity 

markets has given an 

opportunity to mutual fund 

managers. 

Mutual funds are investment 

vehicles that pool 

funds collected from investors 

to invest in securities 

such as stocks, bonds, 

money market instruments 

and other assets. 

Dozens of Syrian civilians 

killed in air strikes 

fighter - all of those killed 

were civilians,” said Ahmad. 

“People are paying the price 

for this armed conflict every 

day.” 

The UK-based Syrian 

Observatory for Human 

Rights put the death toll at 

28 civilians killed, adding 

that figure was likely to rise 

as many of the wounded 

were in critical condition. 

‘Massacres are happening’ 

Speaking to Al Jazeera, 

Douma-based photographer 

Muhammad al-Abdullah 

said he awoke to the 

Russian warship fires warning 

shots near Turkish vessel 

Moscow, Dec 13: Russia’s defence 

ministry says one of its warships fired 

warning shots at a Turkish vessel in Aegean 

Sea on Sunday to avoid a collision. 

A ministry statement says the destroyer 

Smetlivy was unable to establish 

radio contact with the approaching 

Turkish ship, which also failed to respond 

to visual signals and flares. 

When the vessel was 600 metres 

away, the destroyer fired with small 

arms and the Turkish vessel quickly 

changed course. 

“The crew of the Russian patrol ship 

Smetlivy - which was located 22km from 

the Greek island of Lemnos in the northern 

part of the Aegean Sea - avoided collision 

with a Turkish seiner,” the defence 

ministry told the AFP news agency. 

Turkey’s military attache in Moscow 

has been summoned by the defence 

ministry over the incident. 

Tensions between Moscow and 

Ankara have been heightened since a 

Turkish jet downed a Russian bomber 

along the Syrian border last month, killing 

one of the two pilots. 

Moscow has imposed a series of 

economic sanctions against Ankara 

after the incident, sparking the biggest 

crisis between the two countries 

since the Cold War. 

FPIs take out 

Rs 5500 cr from 

equity markets 

New Delhi, Dec 13: Continuing 

their selling spree, 

foreign investors have 

pulled out nearly Rs 5,500 

crore from stock markets 

since the beginning of the 

month on worries of an 

interest rate hike by the US 

Federal Reserve. 

The latest sell-off comes 

after Foreign Portfolio 

Investors (FPIs) withdrew 

Rs 7,074 crore from the 

equities last month. 

Prior to that, overseas 

investors had infused Rs 

6,650 crore in the stock 

markets in October. 

As per the data compiled 

by the depositories, 

net outflow in equities 

stood at Rs 5,487 crore during 

December 1-11. 

Besides, foreign funds 

withdrew a net amount 

of Rs 368 crore from debt 

markets during the same 

period. 

In prepared remarks, US 

Fed chair Janet Yellen had 

earlier this month said that 

she is “looking forward” to 

the first interest rate hike 

in nearly a decade, sparking 

worries that emerging markets 

may see capital flight. 

“Investors are sensing 

that the era of near-zero interest 

rates is coming to an 

end after the Fed chairperson 

expressed confidence 

about the US economy,” 

Geojit BNP Paribas Financial 

Services Ltd Head-Fundamental 

Research Vinod Nair 

said. 

In addition, investors 

grew increasingly worried 

over a possible delay in the 

passage of the key GST Bill. 

“Logjam in Parliament 

is creating a hiccup in the 

Indian market since GST 

is expected to be passed 

in the Winter Session,” an 

analyst said. 

So far this year, overseas 

investors have made 

a net investment of Rs 

15,136 crore in equities 

and Rs 50,976 crore in 

debt markets. 

sound of air strikes on Sunday 

morning. 

“Most people are hiding 

in their cellars. Three air 

strikes landed next to my 

house. Massacres are happening 

here,” Abdullah said. 

Government forces also 

targeted the nearby town of 

Saqba, also situated on the 

outskirts of Damascus, witnesses 

said. 

Sunday’s deaths occurred 

a day after the central 

Syrian city of Homs was 

rocked by a deadly car bombing 

that killed 16 people. 

Obama warns 

Americans against 

blaming Islam for 

terrorism 

Washington, Dec 13: US President 

Barack Obama has warned 

Americans to refrain from 

blaming Islam for terrorism and 

said that ISIS and other terror 

groups were depicting the 

fight against terrorism as a war 

between Islam and the West. 

According to the Dawn, it 

was Obama’s third address to 

his nation since last week’s terrorist 

attack in San Bernardino, 

California, in which 14 Americans 

were killed. 

Terrorist attacks in San 

Bernardino and in Paris, last 

month, have increased anti- 

Muslim feelings in the West.


HEALTH 


Srinagar | Saturday 

12.12.2015 

36 

Simple blood test can tell if you are at arthritis risk 

A simple blood test can indicate your 

likelihood of suffering from rheumatoid 

arthritis (RA) even 16 years before the 

condition takes effect, researchers from 

University of Oxford have revealed. 

A team from the Kennedy Institute of 

Rheumatology at Oxford University found 

that a blood test that looks for antibodies 

that recognize the protein called “tenascin-C” 

could reliably show those who will 

contract the condition. 

When inflammation occurs in the 

body, some proteins are altered. 

These altered forms can prompt an 

immune response from the body, which 

can see it turning antibodies on itself - 

causing rheumatoid arthritis. 

“We knew that tenascin-C is found at 

high levels in the joints of people with RA. 

We decided to see if it could be altered 

and, if so, whether it was a target for the 

autoantibodies that attack the body in RA,” 

said lead researcher Anja Schwenzer in a 

university statement. 

That might also indicate whether 

it could be used in tests to indicate the 

disease. 

“When we looked at results from 

more than 2,000 patients, we found that 

testing for antibodies that targeting altered 

tenascin-C could diagnose RA in around 50 

percent of cases,” the authors noted. 

According to professor Kim Midwood, 

when we looked at samples taken from 

people before their arthritis began, we 

could see these antibodies to altered tenascin-C 

up to 16 years before the disease 

occurred. 

On average, the antibodies could be 

found seven years before the disease 

appeared. 

“This discovery gives us an additional 

test that can be used to increase the 

accuracy of predicting RA, enabling us to 

monitor people and spot the disease early. 

This early detection is key because early 

treatment is more effective,” Midwood 

noted. 

The latest research provides the basis 

of tests that could improve diagnosis and, 

importantly, detect disease at a very early 

stage, with the promise even that people 

at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis 

can be followed before the disease begins. 

“This could have great potential to 

help patients with rheumatoid arthritis 

get the right treatment early to keep this 

painful and debilitating condition under 

control,” concluded Stephen Simpson, 

research director for Arthritis Research UK. 

Vegetarian food choices for diabetics 

Eating healthy and eating right 

is the essence of lowering blood 

sugar level. We take a look at 

diabetes friendly vegetables that 

helps control diabetes. 

These are top 10 super foods for 

diabetics. 

Besides being low in glycemic 

index, these vegetables also 

provide nutrients and vitamins. 

The diabetic diet vegetables are 

rich in these: 

1) Fibre 

2) Vitamin A 

3) Postassium 

4) Magnesium 

5) Calcium 

It is important to stay away 

from starchy vegetables. So this 

will exclude your potatoes and 

corn. Non starchy vegetables also 

satiate you to a greater capacity. 

For a balanced and healthy vegetarian 

diet it should be colourful, 

mix vegetables and include fruits, 

beans, whole grains and fat-free 

dairy. 

Beans: 

Beans are the best and diabetes-friendly 

ingredient. It is low 

is calories, good source of protein 

and is high in fibre, potassium and 

magnesium. 

Fat-free dairy: 

It is recommended to consume 

fat-free dairy for diabetics. 

Dairy is rich source for vitamin D 

and best way to strengthen the 

bones and teeth. 

Whole grains: 

Whole grains provide fibre 

especially barley and oats. Whole 

grains also contain Omega 3, 

folate, magnesium, potassium and 

chromium. 

Tomatoes: 

Lycopene present in tomatoes 

is essential to fight diseases. Plus 

tomatoes are a good source of 

iron, vitamin C, E and K. You can 

consume tomatoes in any form - 

sauce, puree or whole. Processed 

and canned tomato products may 

be unhealthy as it contains high 

levels of sodium. 

Sweet potatoes: 

It may be a starchy ingredient, 

but it is low in glycemic index and 

rich in fibre and vitamin A. Sweet 

potatoes makes a great snack as 

well as a puree. 

Nuts: 

Nuts like walnuts provide 

essential Omega 3 fatty acids. Nuts 

keeps you satiated for a long time, 

and provide you with necessary 

fats. Nuts also contain fibre which 

is good for digestion and heart 

health. 

Leafy vegetables: 

Dark leafy vegetables are a 

great way to reduce insulin production. 

It is also low in calories, 

high in fibre and rich in potassium. 

Dark leafy vegetables also a good 

source for iron. Diabetes friendly 

vegetables are spinach, broccoli, 

cabbage, etc. 

Bell peppers: 

Bell peppers or capsicum are 

available in different colours but 

they also provide vitamin A and C, 

potassium, phosphorus, calcium 

and fibre. 

Mushroom: 

Mushroom does not contain 

sugar and good source for vitamin 

D. It is also fat free hence great for 

those trying to reduce cholesterol. 

Brinjal: 

Brinjal or eggplant can reduce the 

risk of diabetes-induced retinal 

haemorrhage. Brinjal is also effective 

to reduce cholesterol. 

Rules to live by for consistent weight loss 

Trying too hard to lose unwanted 

kilos and not getting desired results? 

The answer is in the affirmative 

for most, because despite 

working out and following a diet we do not 

end up losing as much as we want to.What 

many do not realise is that those seemingly 

little things that come to us as naturally 

as habit, might actually be the reasons we 

are putting on weight.Here are some tips to 

keep in mind if you want to see results in 

your weight loss programme. 

STOP REACHING FOR FOOD ALL THE TIME 

Eat mini meals every two to three 

hours. This keeps your metabolism up 

and your body does not end up storing fat. 

Avoid grabbing that cookie wafer or any 

finger food in between meals. You can’t be 

actually hungry in less than two hours between 

meals. If you do, take up any activity 

that can distract you, like opting for a quick 

walk. 

MINDFUL EATING IS ESSENTIAL 

When you are working and nibbling 

on French fries, you don’t realise when an 

entire large pack is over. One can avoid 

this by being mindful of what one eats. 

Eat only when you are sitting down with 

your plate and there is no television or 

computer or phone to distract you.Mindfulness 

involves being in the moment 

-so think of the texture, colour and taste 

of the food on your plate. Chew every 

mouthful before you reach for the next 

morsel. 

KEEP AWAY FROM FACTORS THAT EN- 

COURAGE NEGATIVE EATING PATTERNS 

If you stuff your refrigerator with food 

that is not healthy (but might be yummy), 

chances are you will end up having all 

of it at a weak moment. So do not stock 

anything that you know you shouldn’t be 

eating. Also, friends who urge you to have 

unhealthy snacks and meals should not be 

FROM FRONT PAGE..................... 

Snowfall........ 

Director MeT Sonam Lotus said that there will be improvement 

in weather and from Saturday the weather is expected to remain 

dry. He said that there will be increase in day temperature 

while night temperature may fall considerably. 

The famous ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir recorded 

3.2 mm of snow during the night, the MET official 

said. 

The official said the minimum temperature was minus 3.0 

degrees Celsius as against minus 2.6 degrees Celsius the previous 

night and was the only place in the Valley to register subzero 

temperature. 

Kokernag, in south Kashmir, also witnessed a drop in the 

night temperature as the town recorded a low of 1.9 degrees 

Celsius compared to 2.6 degrees Celsius the previous night, the 

official said. 

He said the mercury in Pahalgam which serves as a basecamp 

for the annual Amarnath Yatra settled at a low of 1.3 degrees 

Celsius. 

The official said all the other places in the Valley experienced 

an increase in the night temperature with Qazigund 

the gateway town to the Valley - registering a rise 

of about five degrees from the low of 1.8 degrees Celsius 

the previous night to settle at the minimum of 6.5 degrees 

Celsius. 

Srinagar the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir recorded 

a low of 2.8 degrees Celsius an increase of one degree 

from 1. 

8 degrees Celsius the previous night, the official said. 

He said the mercury in Kupwara town in north Kashmir 

settled at a low of 1.5 degrees Celsius, an increase of over a degree 

from 0. 

Leh, in the frontier region of Ladakh, was the coldest recorded 

place in the state with the minimum of minus 6.7 degrees 

Celsius dropping over a notch from minus 5.0 degrees Celsius 

the previous night. 

The nearby Kargil town experienced a drop on two degrees 

in the night temperature as it recorded a low of minus 5.6 degrees 

Celsius compared to minus 3.6 degrees Celsius the previous 

night, the official said. 

India........ 

change conference. 

The meeting between the two Prime Ministers had led to 

secret talks between the National Security Advisers of both 

countries in Bangkok on Sunday. 

encouraged - stay away from them. Opt instead 

for a supportive group of friends who 

also lead a healthy lifestyle. 

STOP EATING STUFF IN TINS, CANS AND 

PLASTIC BAGS 

Gorging on over-processed food items, 

including those that are frozen, pickled and 

laced with preservatives will never allow 

you to lose weight. Drinking pre-packed 

juices and foods that claim to be healthy 

could lead to unwanted consumption of 

salt and sugar, both of which can be detrimental 

to your goal of weight-loss. Rather, 

eat real food like organic fruits and vegetable 

that can help your body to function 

at the optimum level. And when that happens, 

your body stops storing fat and you 

are your lean self without much struggle. 

EAT ONLY WHEN HUNGRY 

Eating more than you actually need, 

is one of the major reasons of putting 

on weight. Nutritionists say that when 

sitting down for a meal, make sure you 

stop eating as soon as you are around 80% 

full, and not till you are bursting at your 

seams. You should learn to recognise 

that you have overeaten when you don’t 

start to feel hungry in the next two to 

three hours (seeming to feel hungry due 

to stress or just craving for something is 

not proper hunger). If you feel full three 

hours after your last meal, then it means 

you have stuffed yourself during the previous 

meal. Keep that in mind when you 

sit to eat again and stop before you are 

too full. 

SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE 

Practice all the above habits every day 

. Do not be hard on yourself and expect 

overnight results.Consistently following 

a healthy lifestyle will always fasten your 

progress towards your goal of a better life. 

If you miss to follow something once in a 

while it is okay -just make sure you do it 

diligently the next time. 

Pak........ 

it's a bilateral issue which requires no international forum. At 

the bilateral level, the Indian argument has been that Kashmir 

is its integral part. 

Then somebody must explain to this house at what 

level the government intends to take it up with India," he 

said. 

Rehman said that as far as the issue of Kashmir was concerned, 

under the UN resolution, no one could bar Pakistan 

from highlighting it at any forum in the world. 

He called for strengthening the National Assembly's Kashmir 

committee which he heads, and making it a powerful arm 

of parliament. 

However, the JUI-F chief, whose party shares the treasury 

benches with the ruling PML-N, praised Prime Minister Nawaz 

Sharif for organising the Heart of Asia ministerial conference on 

Afghanistan which he believed would go a long way in bringing 

regional countries together. 

Leader of Opposition Khursheed Ahmed Shah, however, 

reserved harsh comments for the prime minister for his continued 

absence from the assembly. 

"Whom should I address? Empty chairs on the treasury 

benches? I have decided I will not open the discussion on the 

presidential address unless the prime minister attends proceedings 

of the house," he said. 

Dulat....... 

person (Farooq) for uttering truth. 

Pertinently, former chief minister and NC leader Farooq 

Abdullah had suggested both India and Pakistan to formally 

accept the Line of Control (LoC) as permanent border and give 

internal autonomy to the parts of Kashmir held by them. (CNS) 

Missile....... 

deterrence would further strengthen strategic stability in South 

Asia. 

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz 

Sharif congratulated the military scientists and engineers on 

the successful missile test. 

Pakistan had test-fired the Shaheen-I and Shaheen-II missiles 

last year. 

Shaheen-I is also capable of carrying nuclear as well as 

conventional warheads and has a range of 900 kms while the 

Shaheen-II missile can also carry nuclear and conventional warheads 

up to a range of 1,500 kms. 

Small lifestyle changes that make a big difference 

When it comes to your health, no matter how 

careful you are, there may still be things that 

you may not be doing correctly. And it’s these 

small things, say experts, that can actually 

make a big difference in your health. 

- While brushing twice a day and using a 

mouthwash is a part of your regime, dentists 

say that flossing is equally important -and 

something that a large number of people 

seem to avoid doing. Flossing expels harmful 

bacteria from your mouth, which can cause 

plaque in the long run. And plaque can gnaw 

away the bone that helps keep your teeth 

together, leading to decay and other dental 

problems. Not only this, when this bacteria 

enters your bloodstream, it can actually 

worsens the symptoms of hypertension and 

diabetes. 

- When it comes to your diet, don’t just stick to 

the `three meals a day’ routine. An increasing 

number of nutritionists reckon that having 

smaller meals at regular intervals during the 

day , is far better than sticking to three large 

ones. Not only will this improve your metabolism 

but also lessen the chances of binge eating 

-a win-win situation. 

- Instead of eating at your meals at the office 

cafeteria, spend some time each morning in 

packing a lunch box. It doesn’t matter if you 

eat from the `health counter’, nothing beats 

the hygiene and quality of a home cooked 

meal. Plan your menu every Sunday so that 

you don’t fret what to prepare each morning. 

Alternatively , pack your lunch box a night prior 

so that all you need to do is to take it from 

Singing boosts 

memory in early 

dementia 

refrigerator and leave for work. 

- Walking is something that we take for granted. 

And we don’t realise the numerous health 

benefits it offers. The more you walk, the more 

calories you burn -that’s a given. So, make it a 

habit to walk short distances instead of hopping 

into your car or a cab.Take the staircase 

instead of the elevator. Go for a brisk walk 

thrice a week at a time that suits you. You’ll 

notice the difference in your energy levels in 

just a few weeks. 

- Pursue a new hobby . Or take up something 

that you used to enjoy doing but gave up because 

of lack of time. When you spend time 

doing things that unwind you physically , 

you’ll find that your mental outlook also improves. 

This is because your body is in a state 

of relaxation and will be able to perform your 

Laadli Beti, Aasra 

schemes to change 

destiny of poor: Veeri 

Anantnag, Dec 11: The Minister for Horticulture, Hajj & Aquaf, 

Abdul Rahman Veeri today convened a meeting of district officers 

to review the progress of development works in the Anantnag 

district. 

The Minister took sector wise review of physical and financial 

targets achieved by the various departments under district 

plan 2015-16. 

The meeting was attended by MLA Dooru, MLA Shangus, 

MLA Kokernag, MLA Pahalgam, DDC Anantnag, ADDC, CPO, 

DPO, SEs of R&B, PDD, PHE, PDC, SDMs, besides other district 

and Tehsil level officers. 

The meeting was informed that the out of the total approved 

outlay of Rs 186.14 under the district plan, Rs 35.29 

Crore have been utilized for various developmental activities in 

the district. 

The minister directed the officers of the various departments 

to complete the taken up works in a time bound manner. 

It was apprised that under the R&B sector, Rs 11.92 Crore 

has been made available in the district so far, which was utilized 

to construct and macadamize 43 Km roads, 580 drains, 

05 culverts and 90 walls. Similarly, under PMGSY, out of the 

approved 171 schemes, 137 have been already completed 

with an expenditure of Rs. 184 Crore, catering to more than 

80,000 souls. 

The PHE department has completed three water supply 

schemes in Muniward, Achabal and Katsoo Jarpati while the 

Water Supply Scheme, Bumzoo was also commissioned at a 

cost of Rs 46 Crore. The minister stressed on the importance of 

the minor irrigation works and directed the concerned SE to 

prioritize this sector as it is intricately linked with the agriculture 

sector. Besides, SE I&FC was also directed to restore 

the pre-September 2014 status of various Nallahs and canals 

particularly in flood prone areas of Shamsipora, Hassanpora 

and Tulkhan. The DDC was asked to personally monitor and 

supervise the works. 

The minister said that schemes like MNREGA and IAY have 

helped to create sustainable assets in the far flung areas of the 

district and the change is visible on ground in every part of the 

district. Adding that construction of roads in the areas which 

did not have any connectivity and construction of bunds near 

flood prone areas of the district is of prime importance. 

daily tasks better. 

- Women, when was the last time you did 

some kegel exercises? Don’t wait till you actually 

suffer from urinary incontinence to 

start doing these exercises that strengthen 

your pelvic floor muscles. Make it a habit to 

do them at least once a day . The right way to 

do it would be to contract your pelvic muscles 

and hold them for five seconds. Repeat this 

action as often as you can. 

- Working hard or being busy aren’t bad 

things. But not giving yourself enough time 

to do things that help you unwind, is.While 

pursuing goals, reaching targets and meeting 

deadlines gives you a high, there are times 

when you need to slow down and simply go 

easy on yourself. Even if this means giving 

yourself 20 minutes each day to do absolutely 

nothing or doing something that you love, 

will make a big difference in the way you face 

each day . 

- Simple foods like nuts, fruits and leafy greens 

can do wonders for your health if had regularly 

. These contain essential nutrients that are 

great for the body . Make a conscious effort to 

curb down your intake of fried and junk food. 

The less sugar you consume (and this includes 

the sugar in processed food), the more energetic 

and fit you will feel. 

- Go for regular checkups. You don’t have to 

wait till something goes wrong to go to the 

doctor. Yearly checks for overall health should 

include dental and eye checkups. This way 

you know about a deficiency or malady before 

it goes out of hand. 

Singing favourite songs aloud can not only boost the mood but also improve memory in people with early 

stages of dementia, a team of Finnish researchers has found. 

Researchers led by Teppo Sarkamo from University of Helsinki revealed that caregiver-implemented 

musical leisure activities, particularly singing, are cognitively and emotionally beneficial especially in the 

early stages of dementia. 

The findings could help improve dementia care and better target the use of music in different stages of 

dementia. 

Under MGNREGA, 47 % expenditure against the target of 

Rs 39.24 Crore has been achieved by November 2015, which 

has generated 4.75 Lakh mandays. Similarly, under IAY Rs 2.34 

Crore has been made available, out of which 1.89 Crore has been 

already utilized to construct 82 houses in the district. 

Under the Education sector, an expenditure of 6.83 Crore 

has been made against the approved plan of 8.9 Crore to construct 

37 primary schools, 249 additional classrooms and 73 toilets. 

The minster took a strong note of left-over construction of 

schools under SSA and constituted a committee comprising of 

ADDC Anantnag, SE R&B and CEO and directed them to furnish 

specific recommendations in each case so that the incomplete 

school buildings are constructed and utilized for the designated 

purpose. 

It was given out that under AASRA, 2533 cases have been 

registered while as under Laadli Beti scheme, 1703 cases have 

been registered in the district since the inception of these welfare 

schemes. 

In the Health sector, it has been informed that the construction 

of sub- centre Lalan, Wantrag, PHC YK Pora, Kamar, Adlach 

has been completed and in case of PHC Nowpora, allied works 

are in progress and will be completed within the stipulated 

timeframe. 

The Minister was apprised that Under ICDS, an expenditure 

of Rs 2.45 Crore has been made and so far, 2231 AWCs and 

199 AWCs for STs have been established in the district, besides 

57052 children from 0-6 years and 11155 expecting mothers 

and nursing mothers are receiving nutrition under Supplementary 

Nutrition Programme. 

The minister directed the District Programme Officer to 

conduct extensive awareness camps to educate the masses 

about the different central and state welfare schemes. 

Zahoor chairs Privileges 

Committee meet 

Jammu, Dec 11: A meeting of the Committee on Privileges 

of Jammu and Kashmir, Legislative Assembly held here today 

under the chairmanship of MLA Zahoor Ahmad Mir. 

Legislators, Shamim Firdous, Shakti Raj, Neelam Kumar 

Langeh, Rajesh Gupta and Muhammad Yousuf Bhat attended 

the meeting. 

The Committee discussed breach of privileges notice given 

by MLA Usman Abdul Majid, against the Editor of daily English 

News Paper, Early Times. 

Senior officers of the Assembly Secretariat were present 

in the meeting.

7 

SRINAGAR, MONDAY 


S 

P 

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The IPL players’ draft for 

the two new franchises 

based in Pune and 

Rajkot will be held at the 

Mumbai Cricket Association’s 

clubhouse in the 

Bandra-Kurla Complex 

on December 15. Each 

team will pick 10 players 

of their choice. 

“The draft pick is 

to be held at the BKC 

clubhouse starting at 

12:15 pm on the 15th,” a 

top Board of Control for 

Cricket in India official 

said. 

Sanjeev Goenka’s 

New Rising won the bid 

for the Pune franchisee 

while Intex won the 

Rajkot one after a reverse 

bidding process held in 

Delhi on December 8. 

Goenka’s company will 

shell out Rs 16 crore 

while Intex will pay Rs 

10 crore to the BCCI. 

Pune will be given 

the choice to pick the 

players first because 

they were the lowest 

bidders (negative bids) 

to buy the new team for 

two years. The bidding 

process for the two new 

franchises was necessitated 

by the suspension 

of Chennai Super Kings 

and Rajasthan Royals for 

involvement of some 

of their officials and 

co-owners in the 2013 

IPL spot-fixing scandal, 

which was probed by the 

Supreme Court-appointed 

Justice (retd) R.M. 

Lodha committee. 

Warner may need to stand in as captain 

David Warner may find 

himself as stand-in captain 

of Australia for the 

first time in some of January’s 

limited-overs matches 

against India if Steven 

Smith’s current knee and 

hip niggles don’t clear up 

over the next two weeks. 

Smith is not in doubt for 

the Boxing Day Test against 

West Indies in Melbourne 

or the following fixture in 

the new year at the SCG. 

However, the selectors 

and team medical staff 

may elect to rest him from 

portions of the five-match 

ODI series against India in 

order to give him the best 

chance to be fit and limber 

for the February tour 

of New Zealand and also 

the Twenty20 matches to 

be played in the lead-up 

to the World T20 in India 

Nicol, McClenaghan hand 

Auckland fourth T20 title 

A crucial contribution from 

Rob Nicol, followed by a 

triple strike from Mitchell 

McClenaghan set up Auckland’s 

20-run win against 

Otago, as they lifted the 

Georgie Pie Super Smash 

title in New Plymouth. It 

was, their fourth in domestic 

history. 

Otago’s openers - 

Hamish Rutherford and 

Anaru Kitchen - added 50 

in 33 balls and were well 

on their way to the target 

of 167 before McClenaghan 

took three wickets in four 

balls to change the course 

Who will be the top draft pick? 

in March.The decision to 

rule Smith out of the opening 

rounds of the Big Bash 

League that sit between 

now and Boxing Day is an 

admission that his knee in 

particular will need careful 

management over the 

coming months. He has 

carried the problem since 

the latter part of the Ashes 

tour, saying the discomfort 

he faced while running 

could be “hidden” in Test 

matches. But it is likely 

to be more problematic 

in T20, the only format in 

which Australia are yet to 

win an ICC trophy. 

The coach and selector Darren 

Lehmann said further 

breaks for Smith would be 

discussed. “He keeps telling 

me he is 26 but [in 

Hobart] he was running as 

though he is 36. The pressure 

of captaincy is quite large. 

We have to look at that but 

we get a decent break now 

with two weeks off. He is not 

playing BBL so he gets a good 

break.“The ODIs are important 

to us and then the 

T20 World Cup so I can’t 

see him getting a break until 

the end of the summer, 

unless we play really well 

or the niggles get worse. 

I’m no medical expert but 

[rest] is what they are saying. 

They will say what he 

can or can’t do and if I disagree 

with it he plays and 

if I don’t he might not play. 

Candidate list for SLC elections trimmed down 

Fourteen objections were raised against the candidates for the Sri Lanka Cricket elections 

and those against K Mathivanan and Asanga Seneviratne running for vice-president 

were upheld on the grounds that they had not served on the executive committee 

for a minimum period of two years. Easman Narangoda’s nomination for treasurer was 

rejected for the same reason. 

According to the SLC constitution, only those who had represented Sri Lanka in Test 

and ODI cricket are waived of this requirement. So Arjuna Ranatunga’s candidacy for 

vice-president is safe. The former World-Cup winner is bidding for one of two posts 

along with his brother Nishantha Ranatunga and Shammi Silva, who is also now the sole 

contestant for the treasurer’s post. The elections take place on January 3. 

The two frontrunners for the post of Sri Lanka Cricket president - Nishantha and Thilanga 

Sumathipala - were given the green light to contest after objections were filed against 

them by rival candidates. 

Director-General of Sports Ruwanpathirana said that the objections raised against Sumathipala, 

Nishantha and a third candidate Jayantha Dharmadasa were overruled by a 

committee headed by him after a careful study. 

Sri Lanka Cricket is holding elections after a period of seven months during which time 

their affairs were looked after by a nine-man interim committee headed by former Sri 

Lanka Test cricketer Sidath Wettimuny. 

of the final. 

After choosing to bat, 

Nicol anchored Auckland’s 

innings with a 54-ball 77, 

including eight fours and 

three sixes, and formed 

significant stands with the 

middle order, the largest 

being 50 for the third 

wicket with Brad Cachopa, 

to help post a total of 166 

for 6. 

Robert O’Donnell 

provided the innings with 

the required impetus and 

momentum with a 10-ball 

19. Warren Barnes returned 

figures of 3 for 33 while 

Kitchen was most economical, 

conceding 21 in his 

four overs.The chase began 

in sprightly fashion before 

Auckland roared back into 

the game with regular 

wickets. James Neesham 

(21 off 17) and captain 

Nathan McCullum (35 off 

21) provided brief resistance 

but with the required 

run-rate skyrocketing and 

wickets tumbling, it was 

a task too far. Donovan 

Grobbelaar also picked up 

three wickets in five balls 

to ensure there wasn’t a 

late resurgence. 

However, both the 

CSK and RR will be allowed 

back in the league 

after serving out their 

suspension. 

The cricketers from 

the two suspended 

franchises will be divided 

into two groups of 

capped and uncapped 

and the top names will 

be sold through the 

draft system. The two 

new teams will have a 

minimum of Rs 40 crore 

and a maximum of Rs 66 

crore to buy players. 

Among the players 

expected to feature 

in the draft, it would 

be interesting to see 

whether India’s limited 

overs captain Mahendra 

Singh Dhoni still 

commands the sort of 

attraction that he had 

when CSK grabbed him 

with a million-dollar bid 

in the first-ever players’ 

auction held eight years 

ago. Dhoni, who led CSK 

for eight seasons, is expected 

to be in the first 

list of the draft. 

It would also be 

interesting to note 

whether Rajkot guns for 

its home player Ravindra 

Jadeja whose stocks 

have risen of late after 

he made his comeback 

into the Indian squad in 

the Test series against 

South Africa. Other 

leading players who 

could be in the draft are 

CSK’s Suresh Raina, R. 

Ashwin, Dwayne Bravo 

and Brendon McCullum 

and RR’s Ajinkya Rahane, 

Steve Smith and 

Shane Watson. 

The franchises, which 

choose the first two 

players in the draft — in 

which one player each 

will be put up to be 

chosen alternately — 

will have to shell out 

Rs 12.5 crore.As per the 

tender, the first capped 

player would be paid 

12.5 crore while the 

remaining four capped 

players are to get Rs 9.5 

crore, Rs 7.5 crore, Rs 

5.5 crore, and Rs 4 crore 

respectively. Uncapped 

players can be picked 

for a stipulated fee of Rs 

4 crore. The main player 

auction for unpicked 

players and others will 

be held on February 6 

in Bengaluru. The ninth 

edition of the IPL is 

scheduled from April 9 

to May 29 next year. 

Williamson, Latham 

put New Zealand 

in command 

Kane Williamson joined the 

elite 1,000 runs-a-year club 

on Saturday as New Zealand 

built a commanding 308- 

run lead over Sri Lanka with 

two days remaining in the 

first Test in Dunedin. 

Only the threat of 

rain and a flattening pitch 

loomed as possible barricades 

for New Zealand, who 

closed day three on 171/1 

with nine wickets in hand. 

Tom Latham was on 72 

with master batsman Williamson 

on 48. 

Williamson, who started 

his innings with 992 runs 

for the year, reached 1,000 

driving Rangana Herath elegantly 

over mid-off to the 

boundary. 

Williamson’s class 

shone as New Zealand 

ramped up their dominance 

over Sri Lanka, removing 

their last six wickets on Saturday 

to have the tourists 

all out for 294, 137 runs in 

arrears. 

Guptill and Latham set 

about building on New Zealand’s 

advantage, moving 

swiftly to 79 before Guptill’s 

luck ran out when he was 

bowled by a shooter from 

J & K 75 all out, Harshal 

five-for, Mishra hat-trick 

Harshal Patel ran through 

Jammu & Kashimir with 

his first List A five-for, then 

came back as an opener to 

hammer 54 of the required 

76-run target. The cherry on 

top of a match that Haryana 

wrapped up with only 33 

overs bowled in two innings 

was a hat-trick for legspinner 

and captain Amit Mishra. 

Jammu & Kashmir 

won the toss, chose to bat 

and just withered away as 

Harshal wrecked their top 

order with 5 for 21. There 

were five ducks in all and 

only three scores in double-digits. 

At 38 for 7, they 

were in danger of being 

bowled out for under 50 but 

a 37-run eighth wicket partnership 

between Ram Dayal 

and Zahoor Sofi took them 

past that ignominy. Eventually 

Mishra brought himself 

on as fifth-change broke the 

stand and knocked the tail 

over to claim his first List A 

hat-trick. 

Haryana decided to 

have a bit more fun and 

sent Harshal out to open. He 

came back unbeaten with 

54 off 27 balls, with seven 

fours and three sixes. 

Saurabh Tiwary’s unbeaten 

94-ball 87 steered 

Jharkhand to a five-wicket 

win over Kerala in Bangalore. 

Jharkhand suffered a 

wobble in their chase of 

237 and were struggling at 

129 for 4 in the 32nd over 

after MS Dhoni’s dismissal 

for 18. Tiwary and Kaushal 

Singh kept the chase on 

track with a stand of 75 for 

the fourth wicket. Kaushal 

was dismissed for 48 but 

Tiwary stayed until the end, 

ensuring a win for the side 

in 47 overs. 

Earlier, Kerala’s total 

of 236 for 8 was propped 

up by fifties from opener 

VA Jagadeesh (60) and 

Sachin Baby (61). The 

pair also shared a 77-run, 

fourth-wicket stand before 

Padmanabhan Prasanth 

provided quick runs at the 

end with an unbeaten 34 

off 18 deliveries. 

Axar Patel turned in 

yet another all-round show 

to help Gujarat record a 

four-wicket win over Railways 

in Bangalore’s Alur 

grounds, their second win 

in as many matches at the 

2015-16 Vijay Hazare Trophy. 

Railways, who were 

sent in to bat, were driven 

by Arindam Ghosh(96*) 

to 259 for 5. The other vital 

contributor apart from 

Ghosh was Mahesh Rawat, 

who made 60, with Karn 

Sharma (26) and Ashish 

Yadav (22*) lending the 

finishing touches to the 

Railways innings. 

Pattinson gambles on bowling action 

Through all the months 

and years of work on 

James Pattinson’s bowling 

action, the prevention of 

injury was tantamount in 

everyone’s thinking. But 

in the middle of his first 

Test match appearance for 

nearly two years, Pattinson 

reached an epiphany of 

sorts - if he wasn’t taking 

wickets, he would find 

himself dropped no matter 

how fit he was. 

So it was that Pattinson 

that did some mid-match 

tinkering against the West 

Indies in Hobart, and duly 

found the rhythm that had 

been frequently missing at 

times over the preceding 

year. A rediscovered outswinger 

enabled Pattinson 

to claim his first wicket of 

the match, and a series of 

fast deliveries that stood 

up the seam which led to 

a return of 5 for 27 and a 

feeling of relief akin to the 

completion of a Test debut. 

At the same time, Pattinson 

acknowledged that by 

reverting to elements of 

his former bowling action - 

namely an arm path closer 

to his body that allows him 

to get his wrist position 

right - he was taking a risk 

of re-injuring his back, 

which still carries traces 

of the stress fractures that 

had stalled his career. He 

is hopeful that at a more 

mature age of 25 and 93kg, 

as opposed to the 86kg 

he once weighed in at, his 

body will be able to cope 

with the load. 

“I just ran in and wanted 

to bowl fast like I did when 

I first came on the scene,” 

Pattinson said. “I looked at 

a bit of vision the night before 

and I wasn’t releasing 

the ball in the right position, 

where I wanted to. So 

I did a little bit of work on 

it in the morning just to get 

my wrist behind the ball a 

bit more and get that seam 

good for out swing. 

“It was frustrating because 

I had changed my action 

and I didn’t feel completely 

comfortable with it and I 

think in the second innings 

here I just went ‘stuff it 

really, I’m just going to go 

out and try and bowl like I 

used to bowl’ and just run 

in and bowl fast. 

“And I thought if I bowl like 

I did in the first innings I 

probably won’t be getting 

too many more games, 

so you better change 

something. So it’s been a 

frustrating six months or 

so but it’s good to get a bag 

of wickets now. Every time 

I ran in to bowl I was just 

hoping and waiting for that 

bag of wickets and that 

confidence that I’ve been 

lacking over the last couple 

of years. 

“I’ve sort of gone back a 

bit now. It’s hard because 

when you run in and bowl 

you don’t want to be thinking 

about your action. I’ve 

made the change to try and 

stop injuries but hopefully 

now that I’m back in the 

team and I’m a bit older, 

hopefully my body will 

hold up and I can go back 

a little bit to where I was 

when I first started playing 

because that’s when I think 

I’m bowling my best.” 

Craig McDermott, the 

assistant coach, has worked 

closely with Pattinson 

for more than five years. 

Upon hearing of his pupil’s 

distress at how he bowled 

in the first innings, his 

advice was for Pattinson 

to simply run in and bowl 

fast, without thinking of 

the minutiae. A similar conversation 

with the captain 

Steven Smith also provided 

reassurance about the path 

Pattinson took. 

“I was speaking to Craig 

McDermott after the first 

day about where I was 

releasing the ball from 

and my action, and I said ‘I 

haven’t really been feeling 

that comfortable with it 

over the last six months’. 

And he said just run in and 

don’t worry about it and I 

did that. I’m a bit older now 

and hopefully my body 

will be right and I’m sort of 

somewhere in between. 

“I was really struggling to get 

it through to the keeper, and 

bowl that good channel and 

get that good outswing with 

my wrist behind the ball. That 

was the trouble. It felt like I 

was trying extremely hard to 

do that, whereas the second 

innings when I came out I was 

running straight lines and had 

my wrist behind the ball it felt 

pretty easy. 

Rangana Herath for 46. Sri 

Lanka suffered a setback at 

the start of the day when 

they resumed their first innings 

at 197/4 and lost batting 

general Dinesh Chandimal 

with the first ball he 

faced. The innings ended 

when leg-spinner Mitchell 

Santner had Pradeep caught 

behind to give wicketkeeper 

B.J. Watling his sixth catch 

of the innings. 

New Zealand (1st innings): 

431 

Sri Lanka (1st innings): 

D. Karunaratne c Watling 

b Santner 84, K. Mendis 

c Watling b Boult 8, U. 

Jayasundera c Watling b 

Wagner 1, D. Chandimal 

c Guptill b Southee 83, A. 

Mathews c Watling b Southee 

2, K. Vithanage c Watling 

b Southee 22, M. Siriwardana 

c Taylor b Wagner 35, 

R. Herath c Boult b Wagner 

15, D. Chameera c Taylor b 

Southee 14, S. Lakmal (not 

out) 18, N. Pradeep c Watling 

b Santner 3. Extras: 

(1b,4lb,4nb) 9. Total; (in 

117.1 overs) 294. 

FoW: 1-19, 2-29, 3-151, 

4-156, 5-198, 6-209, 7-252, 

8-273, 9-287. 

CA board 

director 

John 

Bannon dies 

John Bannon, the Cricket 

Australia board director 

and former Premier of 

South Australia, has died in 

Adelaide, aged 72. He had 

battled cancer since 2007, 

but been a member of the 

CA board since 2008. 

After a lengthy political 

career in which he was 

SA’s longest serving Labor 

Premier, Bannon served on 

numerous boards but was 

a key player in Australian 

cricket both with CA and 

the South Australian 

Cricket Association. He was 

named a SACA life member 

in 2014. 

His time on the CA 

board encompassed the 

sweeping governance 

reforms of 2012, which 

saw the board changed 

from a structure of 14 

state-appointed directors 

to nine independent 

appointees, with at least 

one being based in each of 

the six states. Bannon, who 

was also a political and 

cricket historian of note, 

remained an advocate of 

Federalism throughout the 

reform process. 

The CA chairman David 

Peever said Bannon’s many 

achievements included his 

assiduous work to build 

cricket’s connection to 

indigenous Australia. “As a 

board, we will miss John’s 

stature, his knowledge and 

his wisdom,” Peever said. 

“He provided the Board 

with astute judgement 

and decades of experience 

navigating complex and 

challenging issues. 

“Throughout that time 

he championed cricket’s 

efforts to better engage 

Indigenous communities 

as co-chair of the National 

Indigenous Cricket 

Advisory Council, a cause 

he was fiercely passionate 

about. He also played an 

important role overseeing 

the recent governance 

changes to Australian 

cricket. 

“On a personal level I 

will miss his friendship, 

wisdom and guidance. He 

was always selfless in the 

way that he was prepared 

to share his knowledge 

to better other people 

and the game. Despite his 

tremendous experience 

and depth of knowledge he 

carried himself with great 

humility, never imposing 

his will on others. Our 

game and our country have 

lost a remarkable man.“We 

extend our deepest 

sympathies to John’s wife 

Angela and the entire 

Bannon family at this sad 

time.”Andrew Sinclair, the 

SACA chairman, spoke of 

Bannon’s contribution to 

the governance reform 

process and also the 

major redevelopment 

of Adelaide Oval, during 

which time he served on 

the SACA board before 

retiring earlier this year.

14 December 2015

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