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SRINAGAR | <strong>21</strong> <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong> | 10 Rabi Al Thani 1437 AH Vol: 4 | Issue No: 18 | Pages: 08 | Rs 3/-<br />
THURSDAY<br />
4th<br />
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Journalism With A Human Heart<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
K<br />
http//www.preciouskashmir.com | email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com<br />
Gunmen storm Pak<br />
University, kill 25<br />
Peshawar, Jan 20: At least 25 people<br />
were killed and about 50 others injured<br />
today after heavily-armed Taliban<br />
militants stormed a prestigious<br />
university and opened indiscriminate<br />
fire on students and teachers in Pakistan's<br />
restive northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa<br />
province.<br />
The gunmen entered the Bacha<br />
Khan University in Charsadda district<br />
of the province, some 50 kms southwest<br />
of Peshawar, and opened fire on<br />
students and teachers in classrooms<br />
and hostels, media reports said.<br />
Blasts and heavy gunfire were heard<br />
from inside the University campus.<br />
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Party<br />
leader and provincial lawmaker Shaukat<br />
Yousafzai said that 25 people, including<br />
a professor, were killed and<br />
around 50 others injured in the terrorist<br />
attack on the University this morning.<br />
The injured were shifted to hospital.<br />
An emergency has been declared<br />
in all hospitals in the town. All schools<br />
have been closed in the area.<br />
Yousafzai said between four to<br />
10 attackers were involved in attack.<br />
"Such cowardice attack could not<br />
shake the resolve of the Government<br />
in the fight against terrorism," he said.<br />
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)<br />
Delhi releases<br />
Rs 1194 Cr<br />
flood package<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Under<br />
Prime Minister’s special<br />
package, Union government<br />
has released Rs 1194 crore<br />
to Jammu and Kashmir for<br />
rebuilding houses damaged<br />
during September floods of<br />
2014.<br />
As per the media reports<br />
the amount has been credited<br />
in the account of J&K’s<br />
Financial Department.<br />
“The relief will be<br />
thereafter disbursed among<br />
the affected people through<br />
Deputy Commissioners of the<br />
respective districts,” a report<br />
in daily excelsior said.<br />
The report added that<br />
modalities for disbursement<br />
would also be finalized in<br />
near future “so that this exercise<br />
is completed in shortest<br />
possible time”.<br />
The special package was<br />
announced by PM Modi<br />
during his visit to Jammu<br />
and Kashmir on November<br />
8, 2015.<br />
“As per this scale, Rs 2.5<br />
lakh would be provided for<br />
fully damaged Pucca house<br />
and Rs 1 lakh for fully damaged<br />
Kacha house. Similarly,<br />
Rs 1.25 lakh would be provided<br />
for severely damaged<br />
Pucca house and Rs 50,000<br />
See Delhi on Pg 6<br />
has claimed responsibility for the attack.<br />
TTP commander, Omar Mansoor,<br />
said that the attack was carried out by<br />
four attackers.<br />
Soon after the attack, a large contingent<br />
of security forces rushed to the<br />
site and started evacuating students.<br />
Pakistan Army troops also rushed<br />
to the University from Peshawar and<br />
started operation.<br />
Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Salim<br />
Bajwa tweeted that four terrorists<br />
were killed during operation launched<br />
by security forces to clear the University.<br />
"Snipers killed 2 more terrorists<br />
on roof top, total terrorists killed so far<br />
4. All buildings & roof top taken over<br />
by Army...," he tweeted. "Clearance of<br />
university block by block continues by<br />
Army troops."<br />
Earlier, two terrorists who were<br />
firing from inside the university block<br />
were shot and killed by the army.<br />
The terrorists were contained in two<br />
blocks within the university and<br />
troops, commandos are participating<br />
in the operation.<br />
Surveillance operation has been<br />
completed.<br />
Citing intelligence sources, media<br />
See Gunmen on Pg 6<br />
Mehbooba<br />
condemns<br />
attack<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Peoples Democratic<br />
Party (PDP) President and Member<br />
Parliament, Ms Mehbooba Mufti has<br />
strongly condemned today’s dastardly<br />
terror attack on a university in<br />
Charsadda area of Peshawar, Pakistan<br />
in which several persons including<br />
students and teachers were killed<br />
and scores others injured.<br />
"It is a cowardly act of brutality<br />
that has claimed lives of the<br />
innocents,” Ms Mehbooba said in a<br />
statement issued here today.<br />
“My heart goes out to everyone<br />
who lost their loved ones in today’s<br />
cowardly terror attack in the Bacha<br />
Khan University, Charsadda. I share<br />
their pain and offer my deepest condolences,"<br />
she said and added those<br />
who attacked innocent students and<br />
citizens have no religion the perpetrators<br />
are enemies of mankind.<br />
“We stand united with the<br />
See Mehbooba on Pg 6<br />
For youth in Kashmir, mental health<br />
declines as conflict simmers<br />
Fahad Shah<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: On a cold<br />
evening last December, Sajad<br />
limped home and sat in<br />
his living room under a dim<br />
tungsten bulb. He pulled a<br />
cigarette packet out from his<br />
black woolen cloak.<br />
Within fifteen minutes<br />
Sajad, 20, had impatiently<br />
smoked two, letting ash fall to<br />
the floor. He had just finished<br />
a day of work at the Grand<br />
Mosque market of Srinagar in<br />
the Indian-controlled region<br />
of Kashmir, where he sells<br />
used clothes off a cart.<br />
That neighborhood carries<br />
strong associations. Last<br />
August, about a mile away<br />
from where he now works,<br />
Sajad was shot in the leg by a<br />
solider during a protest. The<br />
Grand Mosque area is known<br />
for anti-India activity, and<br />
thousands, including Sajad,<br />
have been part of rallies that<br />
have at times become violent.<br />
That wasn’t Sajad’s first<br />
clash with law enforcement<br />
agencies. Since 2009, police<br />
have filed four cases against<br />
him for “war against the<br />
state and rioting.” In February<br />
2013, he was held for 45 days<br />
at Kotbalwal prison, 350 kilometers<br />
from Srinagar, before a<br />
court order released him.<br />
After he spent a month<br />
in police custody, his family<br />
realized something was different<br />
about him. “He was<br />
beaten up and may have been<br />
hit in the head,” says Ghulam,<br />
his elder brother. “Later we<br />
noticed, he would laugh unnecessarily,<br />
look puzzled, be<br />
in tense moods and complain<br />
of headaches. He stopped<br />
working.”<br />
The changes prompted<br />
Sajad's family to take him<br />
first to the Government Psychiatric<br />
Diseases Hospital in<br />
Srinagar and then to the Institute<br />
of Mental Health and<br />
Neurosciences. There, doctors<br />
diagnosed severe mental<br />
illness and prescribed him<br />
drugs that caused insomnia,<br />
anxiety, nausea and vomiting.<br />
Sajad belongs to the generation<br />
of Kashmiris born<br />
between the late 1980s and<br />
early 1990s, when armed rebellion<br />
against the Indian administration<br />
of Kashmir first<br />
began. That generation’s political<br />
conscience was shaped<br />
during the 2008 and 2010<br />
civil uprisings, as Kashmiris<br />
carried out mass rallies and<br />
protest marches demanding<br />
independence. During the last<br />
uprisings, government forces<br />
killed around 200 civilians,<br />
most of whom were teenagers.<br />
In addition, thousands of<br />
young boys were imprisoned,<br />
mutilated or maimed — acts<br />
that often affected their mental<br />
health, and the well-being<br />
of their families.<br />
Shabir, 22, is another<br />
young man who has been<br />
permanently affected by the<br />
conflict. He suffered brain<br />
damage after being hit in<br />
head by a tear gas shell during<br />
the 2010 uprising. He was<br />
in a coma for 27 days, and<br />
underwent six operations for<br />
injuries to his skull. He lost<br />
the ability to speak as a result,<br />
and his right hand was disabled.<br />
According to his family,<br />
Shabir’s personality also<br />
changed after the incident.<br />
“He is a chain-smoker now<br />
and wonders what happened<br />
to his life,” his father said.<br />
“We can’t understand most<br />
of what he says due to his<br />
disability. Anger in him has<br />
increased.”<br />
Dr. Arshad Hussain sees<br />
up to a 100 patients a day at<br />
the Srinagar psychiatry hospital,<br />
where he has worked for<br />
over 16 years. He says mental<br />
health in Kashmir is declining<br />
at an alarming pace, and has<br />
See Youth on Pg 6<br />
Violent clashes in Pulwama<br />
after militant, civilian killed<br />
‘DySP IRP among 17 security men injured, Army vehicle set ablaze’<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Pulwama, Jan 20: A local<br />
militant was killed in an overnight<br />
gun battle with Indian<br />
troopers, triggering violent<br />
protest which left one civilian<br />
dead after government forces<br />
opened fire to disperse the<br />
protesters in South Kashmir’s<br />
Pulwama district. The post<br />
encounter clashes according<br />
to sources not only left a<br />
protesters dead but at least<br />
22 person including a police<br />
officer suffered injuries. Four<br />
injured protesters have been<br />
admitted in SMHS hospital<br />
for advanced treatment.<br />
Police sources that Government<br />
Agencies had inputs<br />
that Hizb Divisional Commander<br />
Reyaz Ahmed Naik<br />
along with his associates was<br />
present in Batapora Naina<br />
village. Shortly after receiving<br />
the information government<br />
forces including Army<br />
personnel from 55 Rashtriya<br />
Rifles cordoned off the village.<br />
During search operation<br />
militant present in the house<br />
of a local shopkeeper Abdul<br />
Salam fired upon the search<br />
party resulting in an 18 hour<br />
long gun battle.<br />
Sources said that the<br />
gunbattle ended after the<br />
death of a Hizb militant Shakir<br />
Ahmed Bhat a resident of<br />
Brow Bandana, Awantipora<br />
while another militant reportedly<br />
managed to break<br />
the cordon. Eyewitnesses<br />
said that the killing of militant<br />
infuriated locals while<br />
protesters from Batapora<br />
and its adjoining areas including<br />
Dogripora, Begpora,<br />
Malangpora and Gulzarpora<br />
clashed with police and set<br />
an armoured vehicle on fire.<br />
Chanting pro-independence<br />
slogans, scores of youths<br />
hurled rocks at government<br />
forces. Violent clashes also<br />
led to suspension of Baramulla-Banihal<br />
train service. The<br />
violent clashes created panic<br />
in the area while government<br />
forces lobbed tear-smoke<br />
shells and resorted to firing<br />
to disperse the agitated protesters.<br />
Witnesses said that<br />
forces opened fire following<br />
New Delhi, Jan 20: Jammu and Kashmir<br />
Governor N N Vohra stirred a hornet's nest<br />
with his statement that Ranbir Penal<br />
Code (RPC), the state's criminal law,<br />
should be brought under purview of<br />
the NIA act that could give extraordinary<br />
powers to the central probe<br />
agency to take over any terror case.<br />
The state, which is under Governor's<br />
rule at present, enjoys a<br />
special status whereby no Act can<br />
come into force automatically until it is<br />
ratified by the state Assembly.<br />
Geelani calls for shutdown<br />
in South Kashmir<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Paying tributes to the<br />
militant who were killed in Pulwama<br />
encounter, Chairperson All Parties Hurriyat<br />
Conference (g) Wednesday appealed<br />
South Kashmir people to observe<br />
complete shutdown on Thursday against<br />
the killing of a civilian in the aftermath<br />
protests.<br />
A civilian was killed when protests erupted against the<br />
killing of militant in Nayeena area in Pulwama of South<br />
Kashmir.<br />
“Killing of the civilian in police firing is state terrorism,”<br />
Geelani said in a statement, “it won’t be tolerated in any case.”<br />
which one youth died and<br />
four others were injured. The<br />
deceased has been identified<br />
as Parvaiz Ahmad Guroo son<br />
of Ghulam Qadir a resident of<br />
Naina Pulwam.<br />
“Those injured have been<br />
shifted to SMHS hospital in<br />
Srinagar and they have been<br />
identified as Parvez Ilahi, Junaid<br />
Bashir Bhat, Farooq Yakub<br />
Dar and Asif Rashid Mir. The<br />
condition of Farooq Ahmed<br />
Dar is stated to be critical.<br />
Reports said that thousands<br />
of mourners participated<br />
in the funeral procession<br />
of the slain militant and the<br />
civilian. Amid pro-freedom<br />
slogans the bodies of the militant<br />
and the civilian were laid<br />
to rest in their native villages.<br />
Meanwhile, the Chairman<br />
of All Parties Hurriyet<br />
Conference (G), Syed Ali Gilani,<br />
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,<br />
Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi<br />
Al-Safvi, Muhamamd Yousuf<br />
Naqash Mukhtar Ahmad<br />
Waza, Zamruda Habib, Muhammad<br />
Rafiq Ganaie and<br />
others in their statements<br />
paid rich tributes to the slain<br />
youth. Syed Ali Gilani gave a<br />
call for strike in South Kashmir<br />
to show solidarity with<br />
the slain youth.<br />
A police handout reads<br />
that on Tuesday based on a<br />
specific information about<br />
the presence of terrorists in<br />
Naina, Pulwama police along<br />
with army and CRPF launched<br />
a cordon-search operation.<br />
During the operation, militants<br />
opened indiscriminate<br />
fire on the security forces<br />
See Pulwama on Pg 6<br />
Guv for including RPC under NIA Act<br />
In their reactions today, the state's opposition<br />
parties--National Conference(NC)<br />
and CPM --did not favour Vohra's<br />
suggestion and said any such move<br />
should not be allowed while ruling<br />
PDP, an alliance partner of BJP, said it<br />
would react after studying the statement<br />
of the Governor.<br />
In his address at the 7th foundation<br />
day of the NIA yesterday,<br />
Vohra said the Union Home Ministry<br />
should take urgent steps to ensure that NIA's<br />
See Guv on Pg 6<br />
NC flays PDP, BJP for<br />
uncertainty over<br />
govt formation<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Opposition<br />
National Conference<br />
today criticised PDP and BJP<br />
for maintaining uncertainty<br />
over government formation<br />
in Jammu and Kashmir and<br />
asked the coalition partners<br />
to come clear on the issue<br />
without keeping the people<br />
waiting.<br />
"If they cannot make<br />
the government, then they<br />
should make it clear so that<br />
we can take the next stand,<br />
whatever it is.<br />
Why keep people waiting<br />
in a situation where terrorism<br />
is all over," NC patron and<br />
former Chief Minister Farooq<br />
Abdullah told reporters here<br />
today.<br />
"As far as I am concerned<br />
the point here is that the two<br />
(PDP and BJP) have the mandate.<br />
BJP here (in Jammu)<br />
and PDP there (in Kashmir).<br />
I would request them, for<br />
God's sake get on with their<br />
job," he added.<br />
While targeting the two<br />
parties over the uncertainty,<br />
Abdullah said, "People want<br />
a government, so that their<br />
difficulties could be removed.<br />
That is very important." His<br />
comments came as the suspense<br />
continued for the 13th<br />
day over government formation<br />
with PDP chief Mehbooba<br />
Mufti keeping her plans<br />
secret.<br />
The state is currently under<br />
Governor's rule following<br />
the death of the Mehbooba's<br />
father and then Chief Minister<br />
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on<br />
<strong>January</strong> 7.<br />
Yesterday, president of<br />
state unit of BJP Sat Sharma<br />
said the government will be<br />
in place very soon.<br />
See NC on Pg 6<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
K
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Teachers<br />
training prog<br />
culminates at<br />
Budgam<br />
Budgam, Jan 20: A Twelve<br />
Day Induction Training<br />
Programme for newly<br />
recruited teachers of district<br />
Budgam culminated<br />
today at conference hall,<br />
Budgam. The programme<br />
was organized by J&K<br />
IMPA and sponsored<br />
by DoPT, Govt. of India.<br />
33 teachers attended the<br />
training programme.<br />
The programme was<br />
conducted by Dr Samia<br />
Jabeen from IMPA.<br />
She appreciated the<br />
district administration<br />
for its support for the<br />
smooth conduct of the<br />
programme.<br />
Div Com for effective<br />
functioning of winter helpline<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Divisional<br />
Commissioner Kashmir Dr<br />
Asghar Hassan Samoon today<br />
directed the concerned departments<br />
to follow up all the<br />
complaints received through<br />
winter helpline and ensure<br />
their prompt redressal.<br />
He was speaking during<br />
a meeting convened to<br />
review the functioning of<br />
Winter Helpline Cell established<br />
at PCR.<br />
The Divisional Commissioner<br />
was informed that<br />
the cell has received 391<br />
complaints out of which <strong>21</strong>1<br />
were related to PDD, 56 to<br />
PHE, 55 against CA&PD, 27<br />
against SMC, 25 against R&B<br />
and rest of complaints were<br />
registered against other departments<br />
and these were<br />
immediately sent to concerned<br />
departments for immediate<br />
action.<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Samoon directed the concerned<br />
departments to coordinate<br />
with PCR so that cent<br />
percent grievances redressal<br />
is ensured. He also asked the<br />
State Disaster Relief Force to<br />
initiate community outreach<br />
and training programmes for<br />
better response in case of any<br />
eventuality.<br />
The meeting was attended<br />
by officers of police, PDD,<br />
PHE and other departments.<br />
News<br />
Thursday<br />
2<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong><br />
Rasheed accuses KPs of playing<br />
into hands of New Delhi<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Kupwara, Jan 20: The District<br />
Development Commissioner<br />
Kupwara convened<br />
a meeting today to review<br />
various literacy awareness<br />
schemes in the district.<br />
The meeting was attended<br />
by Chief Education<br />
Officer Kupwara, Director<br />
State Education Research<br />
Centre (Kashmir University),<br />
District Youth Services<br />
& Sports, Chief Planning Officer<br />
and concerned Zonal<br />
Education Officers.<br />
The CEO informed the<br />
meeting that 89850 students<br />
up to middle standard<br />
and other 28930 students<br />
have been covered under<br />
free distribution of text<br />
books and mid-day meals<br />
till December 2015 in the<br />
district. Out of 1725 ongoing<br />
works 1425 works have<br />
been completed during the<br />
period, while 90.61 percent<br />
funds have been utilized<br />
under the various schemes<br />
of Education department.<br />
Director CRC (KU), who<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Independent<br />
legislator and MLA Langate Er<br />
Rasheed on Wednesday accused<br />
Kashmiri Pandits of defaming<br />
majority community and playing<br />
in the hands of New Delhi to<br />
work against interests of their<br />
own state.<br />
Addressing a press conference<br />
at the party headquarters in<br />
Rajbagh today, he said that time<br />
has come to tell Kashmiri Pandits<br />
louder and clear that their<br />
anti-Kashmir activities are unacceptable<br />
and they will be seen as<br />
enemies of Kashmir if they don’t<br />
give up their shameful campaign<br />
against Muslims.<br />
“By observing 19th <strong>January</strong><br />
as ‘holocaust day’ and calling<br />
their self-styled migration as<br />
genocide and ethnic cleansing<br />
these deserters have proved that<br />
their one point agenda is to defame<br />
the resistance movement<br />
and prove Kashmiri Muslims<br />
communal,” said Rasheed.<br />
The protests they held yesterday,<br />
were arranged and patronaged<br />
by strong lobbies within<br />
state and central govts and<br />
unfortunately a section of biased<br />
national media left no stone<br />
unturned to prove them right,<br />
claimed Rasheed.<br />
“Kashmiri Pandits enjoying<br />
in Bollywood, universities and<br />
other prestigious places besides<br />
political renegades were<br />
all united yesterday to abuse<br />
Kashmiri Muslims. Let world<br />
community know that Kashmiri<br />
Pandits were not the only<br />
ones who left the Valley,” said<br />
the legislator.<br />
A section of Kashmiris belonging<br />
to religious and political<br />
organisations also migrated<br />
from their ancestral places and<br />
security agencies bulldozed their<br />
houses, orchards and other properties<br />
in broad day light, charged<br />
Rasheed.<br />
Similarly, he said, thousands<br />
of families in border districts of<br />
Pounch, Baramulla and Kupwara<br />
were also forced by security<br />
agencies to migrate to PaK.<br />
“But nobody speaks for them.<br />
If Kashmiri Pandits are entitled<br />
DDC Kupwara<br />
reviews literacy<br />
awareness schemes<br />
Jammu, Jan 20: The Speaker, Jammu and<br />
Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Kavinder Gupta<br />
distributed cheques worth Rs 6 lakh among 50<br />
BPL families of block Satwari for construction<br />
of Individual House Hold Latrines (IHHL) under<br />
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.<br />
Speaking on the occasion, the Speaker said<br />
several welfare schemes have been launched<br />
by the Central Government for uplift of the<br />
people especially for weaker sections of the<br />
society. He said Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has<br />
been launched by the Prime Minister, Narendra<br />
Modi with the aim to make the country<br />
clean. He said need of the hour is to aware the<br />
general public about the programme so that<br />
maximum lot be benefited. Gupta asked the<br />
concerned officers to involve prominent citizens<br />
and Gram Sevaks in this regard. He also<br />
was on the tour to Laderwan<br />
village in connection with<br />
implementation of Saakshar<br />
Bharat Mission said the village<br />
is being covered under<br />
literacy campaign carried<br />
out by the CRC Srinagar in<br />
collaboration with Education<br />
department, ICDS, JSS<br />
and Rural Development Department.<br />
She said the village is<br />
being adopted to generate<br />
100 percent literacy rate<br />
till March <strong>2016</strong>, for which a<br />
monitoring committee has<br />
been formed which includes<br />
religious preachers of the<br />
area as well. It was also given<br />
out that funds and logistical is<br />
being provided for successful<br />
conduct of the mission.<br />
The District Development<br />
Commissioner impressed<br />
upon the participants<br />
to identify five villages<br />
in each Panchayats, where<br />
the SBM implementation<br />
is being adopted. The CEO<br />
Kupwara was directed to pay<br />
visit to review functioning of<br />
the centres being setup by<br />
CRC in the district.<br />
for huge packages, jobs and all<br />
other facilities why should not<br />
internally displaced Muslims<br />
and those forced to migrate PaK<br />
be treated at par with Pandits.<br />
GoI wants to bury the Kashmir<br />
issue and the rights of Muslims<br />
in J&K by diverting the focus<br />
from real issues to Kashmiri Pandits,<br />
Pakistani refugees and other<br />
non-issues,” he said.<br />
“Why do Kashmiri Pandits<br />
Rajendra<br />
enquires<br />
welfare of<br />
SDPO Irshad<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Director<br />
General of Police (DGP), K. Rajendra<br />
Kumar, today visited<br />
Army Hospital Badamibagh<br />
and enquired about the welfare<br />
of Deputy Superintendent<br />
of Police, Irshad Ahmed<br />
Rather. Irshad was injured<br />
while performing his professional<br />
duties at Bijbehara<br />
Anantnag on 24thDecember<br />
2015. He enquired about his<br />
health status and discussed<br />
with the doctors about his<br />
improvement.<br />
The Sub-Divisional Police<br />
Officer received bullet injuries<br />
when he was supervising<br />
the police bandbust for Eid-e-<br />
Milad procession at Bijbehara<br />
and was fired upon by some<br />
militants.<br />
Rajendra, while visiting<br />
the injured officer, talked<br />
to the team of doctors and<br />
asked to provide every specialized<br />
medical treatment<br />
for his early recovery. Doctors<br />
informed the DGP that Irshad<br />
was recovering and responding<br />
to the treatment well.<br />
Speaker distributes cheques<br />
under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan<br />
appealed the people to come forward and take<br />
benefit of the scheme.<br />
Block Development Officer, Satwari also<br />
spoke on the occasion and highlighted the<br />
achievements of the department.<br />
feel shy in confessing that they<br />
were told to leave Kashmir in<br />
90s so that Kashmiris are butchered<br />
once for all and then Kashmiri<br />
Pandits will return as the<br />
lone owners of Kashmir?” asked<br />
Rasheed.<br />
Without counting deaths let<br />
Kashmiri Pandits understand,<br />
if death of 209 Pandits is genocide,<br />
what name should be given<br />
to the brutal murder of one lakh<br />
Muslims in 25 years, as if they<br />
have gone to a picnic and will return<br />
soon, he said.<br />
“Let Kashmiri Pandits not<br />
forget that it were Muslims who<br />
suffered worst from being subjected<br />
to third degree torture, to<br />
custodial killings. Let somebody<br />
return me the pain and loss that<br />
I along with people of my whole<br />
constituency suffered at the<br />
hands of army by subjecting us<br />
to unpaid forced labour for thirteen<br />
years.<br />
“Those who forced police to<br />
lodge FIR against Union Minister<br />
for writing a letter to VC in<br />
Hyderabad University should<br />
answer, why are they calm<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Doctors<br />
Association Kashmir (DAK)<br />
today urged pregnant<br />
women to get vaccinated<br />
as this is the best means to<br />
protect them and their babies<br />
from flu.<br />
Despite the benefits of<br />
influenza vaccination during<br />
pregnancy, majority of<br />
pregnant women in Kashmir<br />
are unvaccinated.<br />
Voicing concern over<br />
low vaccination rates among<br />
pregnant women, President<br />
DAK and flu expert Dr Nisar<br />
ul Hassan in a statement issued<br />
said that though there<br />
are clear guidelines, pregnant<br />
women are not advised<br />
by their health providers to<br />
get vaccinated.<br />
Unvaccinated women<br />
say that they would have<br />
been vaccinated had their<br />
obstetricians recommended<br />
them.<br />
Flu is more likely to<br />
cause severe illness in pregnant<br />
than in healthy women<br />
who are not pregnant.<br />
Pregnancy changes immune<br />
system, heart and<br />
lung functions that make<br />
pregnant women more<br />
prone to severe illness as<br />
well as hospitalization and<br />
death.<br />
Getting flu during pregnancy<br />
also raises the risk of<br />
pregnancy complications<br />
including premature labor<br />
and delivery.<br />
Preventing influenza<br />
during pregnancy is an essential<br />
element of prenatal<br />
care and the most effective<br />
strategy for preventing influenza<br />
is vaccination.<br />
Vaccination can pass<br />
antibodies on to the baby<br />
and help protect baby for<br />
Kathua, Jan 20: Additional<br />
District Development Commissioner,<br />
Kathua Manmohan<br />
Singh chaired a meeting<br />
of District Officers here today<br />
to review the arrangements<br />
for the three day Public<br />
Information Campaign<br />
being organized by the Press<br />
Information Bureau.<br />
Media and Communication<br />
Officer (PIB), Sunil Koul<br />
informed that Press Information<br />
Bureau (PIB) Jammu<br />
would organise three day<br />
Public Information Campaign<br />
(PIC) from 3rd to 5th<br />
February <strong>2016</strong> at Sports<br />
Stadium Kathua. The main<br />
purpose of this campaign<br />
is to create mass awareness<br />
on the flagship programmes<br />
of the government viz. National<br />
Rural Health Mission<br />
(NRHM), Beti Bachao Beti<br />
when a lady was forced to give<br />
birth to child in compound of<br />
Kuthua hospital, as she was<br />
denied admission into labour<br />
room for the only fault that<br />
she was a Muslim.” Er Rasheed<br />
Added.<br />
“One fails to understand that<br />
why people talk about return of<br />
Kashmiri Pandits, as majority of<br />
them have been enjoying summers<br />
and springs at their native<br />
places every year, but want still<br />
to be called as migrants, just to<br />
make luxuries out of it.”<br />
He appealed young generation<br />
of Kashmiri Pandits to read<br />
every page of Kashmir History<br />
and not get misled and influenced<br />
by their self-styled community<br />
leaders and asked political<br />
and other organisations to get<br />
united and defeat these communal<br />
proxies.<br />
Rasheed condemned the<br />
“brutal killing of Pulwama youth<br />
namely Parvaiz Guru and added<br />
that police is leaving no opportunity<br />
to harm Kashmiris added<br />
that he will have a peaceful sit in<br />
at Pulwama tomorrow.”<br />
DAK urges pregnant<br />
women to get flu vaccine<br />
up to 6 months which is<br />
important because infants<br />
younger than 6 months<br />
are too young to get flu<br />
vaccine.<br />
It is critically important<br />
that all obstetricians should<br />
advocate for influenza immunization<br />
and provide flu<br />
vaccine to their pregnant<br />
patients.<br />
There is a large body of<br />
scientific studies that supports<br />
the safety of flu vaccine<br />
in pregnant women<br />
and their babies.<br />
It is injectable flu vaccine<br />
that should be given<br />
to pregnant women and<br />
not nasal flu vaccine as it is<br />
made from live virus that<br />
makes it less appropriate<br />
during pregnancy.<br />
Antiviral drug, Tamiflu<br />
(oseltamivir) is not teratogenic<br />
and is safe in pregnancy.<br />
Pregnant women with<br />
suspected or confirmed influenza<br />
should receive antivirals<br />
as early as possible<br />
because treatment initiated<br />
early is more likely to provide<br />
benefit.<br />
Padao , Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan<br />
, Atal Pension Yojana,<br />
PM Jan Dhan Yojna etc.<br />
The ADDC while reviewing<br />
the arrangements said<br />
that PICs provide good opportunity<br />
for implementing<br />
agencies to reach out to<br />
the grassroots level through<br />
information, education and<br />
communication mode. He directed<br />
all the officers present<br />
in the meeting that adequate<br />
arrangements efforts should<br />
be put in place to make this<br />
campaign a grand success.<br />
He further said that Media<br />
centre will be established<br />
for proper dissemination of<br />
the news on daily basis. PDD<br />
will ensure un-interrupted<br />
power supply for three day<br />
event at the venue. PHE department<br />
may ensure clean<br />
drinking water supply for<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
DC reviews RD arrangements<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr. Farooq<br />
Ahmad Lone accompanied by senior officers of district<br />
administration today visited Bakshi Stadium to take<br />
stock of arrangements being put in place for the smooth<br />
conduct of Republic Day celebrations.<br />
While reviewing the arrangements, Dr. Lone directed<br />
the concerned officers to ensure uninterrupted water<br />
and power supply, medicare facilities, sanitation, parking<br />
and security arrangements in an around the venue<br />
where main function is to be held.<br />
The Deputy Commissioner was informed that necessary<br />
arrangements have been put in place for the successful<br />
conduct of Republic Day. He was told that contingents<br />
of J&K Police, CRPF, Fire and Emergency Services,<br />
NCC and students of various institutions are participating<br />
in march past. The National Flag will be unfurled by<br />
the chief guest who will take salute at the march past.<br />
Besides, a cultural programme will be presented by<br />
the students of various educational institutions and the<br />
artists of the cultural wing of Department of Information<br />
and Public Relations.<br />
Dr. Lone urged for close coordination between the<br />
concerned departments for the smooth conduct of the<br />
Republic Day celebrations.<br />
DC Pulwama meets<br />
Tabish Manzoor<br />
Pulwama, Jan 20: Deputy Commissioner Pulwama today<br />
met Tabish Manzoor Khan of Dogripora Pulwama<br />
who has secured first position in the matriculation examination<br />
this year by scoring 498 marks out of 500.<br />
Congratulating Tabish and his parents on his success<br />
the Deputy Commissioner said that he has brought laurels<br />
not only to his family and village but to the whole<br />
district.<br />
DC also announced a special prize of Rs 51000 for<br />
Tabish as mark of encouragement and promised all possible<br />
help and guidance to him near future.<br />
Arrangements for national<br />
Voters Day finalized<br />
Baramulla, Jan 20: Arrangements regarding celebrations<br />
of National voters Day on 25 <strong>January</strong> <strong>2016</strong> were today finalized<br />
at Baramulla in a meeting under the chairmanship<br />
of Additional Deputy Commissioner, Baramulla<br />
Bashir Ahmad Khan. Assistant Commissioner Revenue,<br />
ERO’s Coordinator NYK, AERO’s, BLO’s and other officers<br />
also attended the meeting.<br />
The meeting was informed that 12236 new voters<br />
were registered including 4964 Male and 7272 female<br />
during special summary revision in <strong>2016</strong> in the district.<br />
It was informed that the total number of voters has gone<br />
upto 598193 including 312611 male and 285582 female<br />
voters.<br />
It was decided in the meeting that national voters<br />
Day will be celebrated throughout the district. The main<br />
function will be organized at the Dak-Bunglow Baramulla.<br />
At Sub-divisions and Tehsils the concerned Magistrates<br />
and Tehsildars will chair the function. During the<br />
function Photo Election cards will be provided to the<br />
newly registered voters.<br />
DC convenes collectors meet<br />
Doda, Jan 20: District Development Commissioner Doda,<br />
Bhupinder today convened the meeting of all collectors<br />
of the District and fixed the rates for various land acquired<br />
for the projects in the District. He also reviewed<br />
the functioning of the Revenue department during<br />
which various issues including eviction cases, land acquisition<br />
cases, encroachments, relief cases, mutations and<br />
other related matters were discussed.<br />
Meanwhile ACR Doda Vaibhav Kohli reviewed progress<br />
made under National Population Register (NPR),<br />
ADHAAR in a separate meeting in conference Hall.<br />
Arrangements for 3-day Public<br />
Information Campaign finalized<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: District<br />
Police Leh in collaboration<br />
with Municipal Committee<br />
(NAC) Leh and Traffic Police<br />
kick started the “Traffic<br />
Awareness week” today.<br />
The main aim and objectives<br />
of the programme is<br />
to aware all the stake holders,<br />
drivers, commercial taxi<br />
operators, drivers of various<br />
types of vehicles and<br />
general public/commuters<br />
about the various types of<br />
traffic related issues, problems,<br />
abeyance of traffic<br />
rules and regulations and<br />
also statutory provisions.<br />
The programme has been<br />
designed to be more inclusive<br />
and holistic to accommodate<br />
different sections<br />
of society and get them acquainted<br />
with the endemic<br />
traffic problems in Leh and<br />
their redressal.<br />
As a prelude to the<br />
programme, SSP Leh Dr.<br />
Sunil Gupta, flagged off<br />
the “Traffic Awareness<br />
three days by permanently<br />
deploying water tanker at<br />
the PIC venue.<br />
Municipal authorities<br />
would provide mobile toilet<br />
facility at the venue for the<br />
convenience of visitors. CEO<br />
Kathua will arrange a rally of<br />
students on the valedictory<br />
day of the PIC. Different departments<br />
will install their<br />
respective stalls during the<br />
PIC highlighting their flag<br />
ship programmes and depicting<br />
their developmental<br />
and success stories. Departments<br />
should also identify<br />
resource persons especially<br />
from Rural Development,<br />
Health, Education/SSA, BSNL,<br />
Employment, ICDS, PMGSY<br />
and PM Jan Dhan Yojna for<br />
creating mass awareness<br />
regarding various schemes<br />
during the PIC. To avert any<br />
Vehicle” from SSP office<br />
complex Leh in presence of<br />
police officers and various<br />
heads of Motor Transport<br />
Unions, media persons<br />
and students. The traffic<br />
awareness vehicle adorned<br />
with traffic awareness<br />
related slogans, punitive<br />
section under MV Act was<br />
the main attraction of the<br />
event. During the inaugural<br />
session traffic related educational<br />
materials such as<br />
leaflets, pamphlets, placards<br />
containing the various sections<br />
of motor vehicle act,<br />
other traffic related provisions<br />
and rules, guidelines<br />
were distributed.<br />
mishap a fire Tender be ensured<br />
at the PIC venue by<br />
Fire & Emergency Services<br />
Department.<br />
Later, in the meeting<br />
arrangements for National<br />
Voters Day were reviewed<br />
in which ADDC Kathua said<br />
that National Voters Day<br />
will be celebrated at District<br />
as well as Tehsil level.<br />
At district level symposium,<br />
rallies, cultural and nukkad<br />
nataks will be organized to<br />
mark National Voters Day.<br />
On 25th<strong>January</strong>, <strong>2016</strong> (National<br />
Voters Day) a rally<br />
will be taken out from Girls<br />
Higher Secondary school<br />
Kathua which will culminate<br />
at Shaheed Bhagat Singh<br />
Park , Kathua where Nukkad<br />
Nataks will be performed to<br />
sensitize the masses about<br />
their right to vote.<br />
Traffic awareness programme held in Leh<br />
Later on, a traffic awareness<br />
road show was carried<br />
out throughout the Leh city<br />
and adjoining areas including<br />
Choglamser, Skalzangling.<br />
The programme was<br />
highly appreciated by the<br />
general public and hailed<br />
the initiatives of District Police<br />
Leh.<br />
Different types of traffic<br />
related awareness activities/<br />
programme such as painting<br />
competition, sticker<br />
distribution, education by<br />
students etc. General public<br />
are requested to co-operate<br />
to operate to make the week<br />
long traffic awareness programme<br />
successful.
Precious Kashmir<br />
NEWS<br />
Srinagar,Thursday<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong><br />
3<br />
DSEK order against<br />
unionism pits teachers<br />
against director<br />
‘Shah Faesal playing with<br />
fire, he can’t stop us’<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: The state<br />
government teachers are<br />
furious with the directorate<br />
of school education, Kashmir,<br />
for “trying to curb” them<br />
their unionism through<br />
which they “seek and fight<br />
for rights and demands”.<br />
Coming out in open<br />
against the director school<br />
education Shah Faesal, the<br />
teachers, led by Jammu and<br />
Kashmir Teachers Forum<br />
president, Abdul Qayoom<br />
Wani, said that the director<br />
was “playing with fire”.<br />
“Shah Faesal cannot act<br />
as a dictator. He cannot stop<br />
our unionism as we are fighting<br />
for our rights and trying<br />
to correct the education<br />
system in the schools. He is<br />
playing with fire,” Wani said<br />
in a press conference here.<br />
The angry Wani was<br />
reacting to the order of the<br />
DSEK order which had asked<br />
for strict action against<br />
Kupwara-<br />
Tanghdar<br />
route info<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Additional<br />
District<br />
Magistrate Kupwara<br />
Wednesday issued an<br />
order regarding traffic<br />
movement on the Kupwara-Tanghdar<br />
route<br />
where vehicular movement<br />
will be allowed to<br />
ply only between 8 am<br />
to 6 pm.<br />
The order informs<br />
the general public particularly<br />
residents of<br />
Tehsil Karnah that in<br />
case of emergency the<br />
vehicles will be permitted<br />
to ply after getting<br />
prior permission from<br />
Station House Officer<br />
Kralpora and Karnah.<br />
In case of bad<br />
weather people have<br />
been advised to confirm<br />
the situation from<br />
the mentioned SHO’s<br />
before embarking on<br />
their journey.<br />
teachers and their associations<br />
for using offices and<br />
schools for their union activities<br />
during duty hours.<br />
The director has in its<br />
order asked that the sacred<br />
profession of teaching can’t<br />
be hijacked by elements<br />
which take salary for<br />
teaching and instead avoid<br />
duties on the pretext of trade<br />
unionism.<br />
“It is hereby reiterated<br />
that all members and<br />
office-bearers including the<br />
Chairmen of Teacher associations<br />
/forums are subjected<br />
to same disciplinary control,<br />
CSR and Conduct Rules<br />
as any other Government<br />
Employee,” the DSEK order<br />
says, adding that special<br />
exemptions from teaching<br />
duties have been given to<br />
them except if they chose to<br />
remain absent under leave<br />
duly sanctioned.<br />
Wani said that the about<br />
1, 50000 teachers have been<br />
rendering their service for<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
the thousands of students in<br />
the state. “We are educating<br />
and students and treat all<br />
students as our own sons.<br />
But from the past many<br />
months, Director Shah Faesal<br />
and former minister Naeem<br />
Akhtar are maligning our<br />
fraternity and defaming us<br />
publicly,” he said.<br />
The teachers said that<br />
the director should name a<br />
single member of the forum<br />
who has been absent from<br />
his duties, and has not been<br />
attending to the school.<br />
“We ask the director<br />
to name a single teacher<br />
who has not attended to his<br />
duties,” Wani said.<br />
Wani also talked<br />
about other issues that the<br />
teachers are confronting in<br />
the department “because of<br />
the more loyal than king”<br />
attitude of the DSEK.<br />
The teachers said that<br />
they will protest on <strong>January</strong><br />
30 infront of the DSEK office<br />
in Srinagar against all the<br />
“anti-teacher policies” of the<br />
government.<br />
“All the orders should be<br />
rescinded by the directorate<br />
that were issued in the last<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: J&K<br />
Academy of Art, Culture and<br />
Languages and Radio Kashmir,<br />
Srinagar Tuesday jointly<br />
organized a talk-cum-interactive<br />
session with noted<br />
academic and psychologist,<br />
Prof. A.G. Madhosh. Among<br />
others Prof. Mehmood<br />
Ahmad Khan, Dean and<br />
Head, Faculty of Education,<br />
University of Kashmir, former<br />
Director Programmes,<br />
Doordarshan Kendra, Srinagar,<br />
Salamudin Bajad and<br />
former Head MERC, Kashmir<br />
University, Prof. Nasir Mirza<br />
were present at the Seminar<br />
Hall of JKAACL during the<br />
interactive session.<br />
Held under the title<br />
“Naamwar’ the interactive<br />
session was first of its<br />
kind where people mostly<br />
students and members of<br />
civil society were afforded<br />
opportunities of interaction<br />
with the invited guest.<br />
Speaking on the occasion,<br />
programme head, Radio<br />
Kashmir, Srinagar, Syed<br />
Humayun Qaisar said that<br />
the main objective of the<br />
event was to bring eminent<br />
personalities of Kashmir<br />
on one platform and afford<br />
opportunities to people to<br />
interact with them.<br />
“Our main motive is to<br />
lessen the gap between the<br />
intellectuals and the people<br />
of Kashmir. That is why<br />
Naamwar has been launched<br />
by JKAACL and Radio<br />
Kashmir as a joint venture,”<br />
Qaisar said.<br />
many months as these orders<br />
are against the working<br />
of the teachers.”<br />
The teachers said that<br />
they are ready to cooperate<br />
with the court directions of<br />
verifying academic qualification<br />
of those ReTs who<br />
have obtained degrees from<br />
“dubious” institutions.<br />
From the last many<br />
months, the education<br />
department has issued several<br />
orders for the teachers<br />
and for the department’s<br />
functioning, which has pitted<br />
teachers against their own<br />
department heads. (KNS)<br />
The event started with a<br />
welcome speech by Deputy<br />
Secretary, JKAACL, Syed Shakeel-ur-Rehman<br />
who gave a<br />
brief overview of Academy’s<br />
activities and stated that the<br />
Academy would continue to<br />
host such events.<br />
The welcome address<br />
was followed by renderings<br />
of Kashmiri ghazals of Prof.<br />
Madhosh by singer Kifayat<br />
Faheem. As part of the event<br />
a comprehensive paper<br />
on life and works of Prof.<br />
Madhosh was also read by G.<br />
N. Shakir.<br />
Mirwaiz condemns<br />
terror attack on Bacha<br />
Khan University<br />
Expresses<br />
solidarity<br />
with Pak<br />
Govt<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Strongly<br />
condemning the terror<br />
attack on the Bacha Khan<br />
University in Charsadda, in<br />
the Northwestern Khyber<br />
Pakhtunkhwa province of<br />
Pakistan, Hurriyat (M) Chairman,<br />
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq<br />
Wednesday expressed grief<br />
and shock over the incident<br />
in which <strong>21</strong> innocent persons<br />
got killed and more than 51<br />
injured.<br />
In a statement, expressing<br />
solidarity with the Government<br />
of Pakistan and<br />
the people of Pakistan on<br />
the mindless terror attack of<br />
Charsadda, the Mirwaiz said<br />
terrorism in any form and at<br />
any place was condemnable.<br />
Stressing that there was<br />
no place for such inhuman<br />
practice of terror in Islam,<br />
the Hurriyat (M) Chairman<br />
said at a time when common<br />
masses in most parts of the<br />
world were getting killed in<br />
Focus on capacity building<br />
of teachers: Madhosh<br />
NC condemns killing<br />
of Pulwama youth<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: National<br />
Conference on Wednesday<br />
condemned the killing<br />
of a youth, Parvaiz Ahmed<br />
Guroo, in Pulwama and also<br />
expressed grief at two more<br />
youth sustaining gunshot injuries.<br />
“The PDP-BJP Government,<br />
over the course of the<br />
last two months, ignored<br />
growing unrest and disquiet<br />
in Pulwama and today’s tragic<br />
incident appears to be a<br />
manifestation of the PDP-BJP<br />
Government turning a blind<br />
eye towards the prolonged<br />
situation that has existed in<br />
Pulwama for a while now.<br />
Our hearts go out to the bereaved<br />
family and we pray<br />
for peace to the departed<br />
soul,” NC Provincial President<br />
Nasir Aslam Wani said in a<br />
statement issued from Party<br />
Headquarters in Srinagar.<br />
Meanwhile, NC General<br />
Secretary Ali Mohammad<br />
Sagar Wednesday announced<br />
to conduct “intra-party elections”<br />
for Kashmir province.<br />
“Our membership drive<br />
in Kashmir province has taken<br />
almost three months to complete<br />
which is now complete<br />
with 8,67,450 membership<br />
tickets issued to party members<br />
across Kashmir valley and<br />
I feel proud to share with you<br />
that all the drive has been absolutely<br />
fair and transparent,”<br />
NC Kashmir president said.<br />
Hizb pays<br />
tributes to<br />
slain militants,<br />
civilian<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Hizbul Mujahideen<br />
has paid rich tributes<br />
to the militants and the civilian<br />
killed in Niana village in Pulwama<br />
district during an encounter<br />
on Wednesday.<br />
In an emailed statement,<br />
HM spokesman Saleem Hashmi<br />
said that while chairing<br />
a meeting of HM Command<br />
Council, deputy Chief Khalid<br />
Saifullah paid tributes to the<br />
slain militants and the civilian.<br />
“Lateef Ahmad alias Haroon<br />
of Beighpora and Shakir Ahmad<br />
alias Abdul Aziz of Banduna got<br />
martyred in along gunbattle<br />
with Indian army. A civilian, Parvaiz<br />
Ahmad was also martyred.<br />
We pay our rich tributes to these<br />
martyred youth who laid their<br />
lives for freedom of Kashmir,” he<br />
quoted the deputy chief as saying<br />
in the meeting.<br />
"Lateef and Shakir were<br />
assets of Hizb, who sacrificed<br />
their blood for Islam. Both of<br />
them had sentiments of Jihad,<br />
and an urge for martyrdom,"<br />
he said, adding that Saifullah<br />
prayed for peace of the souls of<br />
the slain. (KNS)<br />
Later a question-answer<br />
session was also held in<br />
which members of the audience<br />
actively participated<br />
and posed myriad questions<br />
to the noted academic<br />
mostly on the prevailing<br />
educational scenario in the<br />
State.<br />
Sharing his life experiences<br />
as an academic,<br />
Prof. Madhosh said that for<br />
fruitful results in the field of<br />
education, it was imperative<br />
that capacity buildings of<br />
teachers was given importance.<br />
“The moment you<br />
invest in capacity building<br />
of teachers, you begin the<br />
process of reformation in<br />
the field of education,” he<br />
said, adding, the approach of<br />
capacity building was need<br />
of the hour.<br />
In his presidential<br />
remarks, noted writer,<br />
Farooq Nazki complimented<br />
JKAACL and Radio Kashmir,<br />
Srinagar for starting a programme<br />
like “Naamwar”.<br />
the similar mindless acts of<br />
terrorism, and the way terrorism<br />
was fast becoming<br />
the biggest challenge for the<br />
humanity, the international<br />
community needs to take<br />
united stand against terrorism<br />
and make combined efforts<br />
to curb this menace.<br />
Playing glowing tributes<br />
to the martyred youth Shariq<br />
Ahmad Bhat of Pulwama in<br />
a gunfight with government<br />
forces in south Kashmir’s<br />
Pulwama district, the Mirwaiz<br />
said the sacrifices of the<br />
martyrs for the just cause of<br />
Kashmir was the biggest asset<br />
of the ongoing resistance<br />
movement.<br />
Elucidating that keeping<br />
Kashmir issue unresolved<br />
was the main reason of political<br />
uncertainty in entire<br />
South Asia, the Hurriyat (M)<br />
Chairman said, respecting<br />
the sacrifices of the martyrs,<br />
the Hurriyat (M) was making<br />
serious efforts at all levels to<br />
take the resistance movement<br />
to its goal by resolving<br />
the Kashmir issue as per the<br />
wishes and aspirations of the<br />
people of Jammu Kashmir.<br />
Condemning the killing<br />
of an innocent civilian Parvaiz<br />
Ahmad Guroo of Batapora,<br />
Puwlama at the hands of<br />
government forces, the Mirwaiz<br />
said the forces under<br />
the garb of gunfight with<br />
militants killed an innocent<br />
civilian and unleashed a<br />
reign of terror by using excessive<br />
force on the peaceful<br />
protestors.<br />
The international<br />
community needs<br />
to take united<br />
stand against<br />
terrorism and<br />
make combined<br />
efforts to curb<br />
this menace.<br />
Special prayers held<br />
for late Mufti Sayeed<br />
Jammu, Jan 20: A large number<br />
of people participated<br />
in a special prayer meeting<br />
at Jagti Township today in<br />
which glowing tributes were<br />
paid to the former Chief Minister<br />
of J&K, Mufti Mohammad<br />
Sayeed, who breathed<br />
his last at AIIMS, New Delhi,<br />
earlier this month.<br />
Various speakers deeply<br />
mourned the passing on<br />
of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed<br />
and described him as<br />
a leader and statesman of<br />
remarkable political stature,<br />
who provided a healing<br />
touch to the people during<br />
his six-decade-long political<br />
career. They also highlighted<br />
his vast contribution towards<br />
progress and welfare<br />
of the people of the state,<br />
including the Kashmiri Pandit<br />
community.<br />
“Late Mufti Saab favoured<br />
honourable and dignified<br />
return of Kashmiri Pandit<br />
community to the valley. He<br />
was of the firm belief that<br />
Kashmiri Muslims were incomplete<br />
without their Pandit<br />
brethren,” they observed,<br />
while vividly remembering<br />
his visits to various transit<br />
accommodations during his<br />
tenure as Chief Minister to<br />
enquire about the availability<br />
of basic amenities and other<br />
facilities.<br />
The meeting highlighted<br />
the efforts of late Mufti Sayeed<br />
put in for socio-political<br />
transformation and betterment<br />
of Jammu & Kashmir.<br />
“He wanted to bring permanent<br />
peace to the state. In his<br />
passing away, we have lost a<br />
leader of outstanding value<br />
who was always connected<br />
to the grassroots level,” they<br />
added.<br />
The speakers vowed to<br />
carry forward the mission<br />
of late Mufti Mohammad<br />
Sayeed which was aimed at<br />
strengthening the democratic<br />
and secular values in the<br />
state.<br />
“He worked in different<br />
capacities during his<br />
chequered political career<br />
and always worked for equitable<br />
development of all the<br />
three regions of the state,”<br />
the speakers remarked.<br />
Remembering Gaw Kadal Massacre<br />
52 innocent Kashmiri civilians<br />
killed, over 250 injured<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: It was<br />
this day (<strong>January</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 1990),<br />
twenty-six years ago,<br />
when at least 52 Kashmiri<br />
innocent civilians were<br />
butchered by India’s Central<br />
Reserve Police Force in the<br />
heart of the Srinagar city<br />
when thousands of people<br />
took out a massive anti-India<br />
procession.<br />
Number of people who<br />
have witnessed the bloodshed<br />
said that anti-India<br />
sentiments were running<br />
deep and the city was reverberating<br />
with pro-freedom<br />
slogans.<br />
“On <strong>January</strong> <strong>21</strong>, 1990,<br />
the whole city was under<br />
siege, massive search and<br />
crackdown operations were<br />
carried out to trace down<br />
the militants. The news of<br />
women being molested and<br />
hundreds of people being<br />
arrested by the Indian forces<br />
on the directions of the<br />
then Governor Jagmohan<br />
sent shockwaves throughout<br />
Srinagar city.”<br />
Some of the witnesses<br />
said that a procession actually<br />
started from Ikhrajpora<br />
that swelled up as it<br />
passed through lanes and<br />
bye lanes of the civil lines<br />
areas. Young and old, filled<br />
with anger came on the<br />
streets. Bubbling with the<br />
sentiment of freedom, the<br />
slogans sent sound waves<br />
which broke the cold air.<br />
As the procession reached<br />
Maisuma, the Indian<br />
Troops were assembled at<br />
the Gowkadal Bridge, to<br />
thwart the protests. The<br />
resonance of the slogans<br />
kept the procession going;<br />
they were unaware of<br />
what was going to happen.<br />
As soon as they stepped on<br />
the bridge, the sounds of<br />
Light Machine Gun (LMG)<br />
and AK 47 surrounded<br />
them. Bullets were fired.<br />
People were falling like the<br />
pack of cards. Some people<br />
jumped over the bridge to<br />
save their lives.<br />
Twently-four years<br />
old youth Abdul Rouf<br />
according to eyewitnesses<br />
saved scores of people. He<br />
confronted a CRPF trooper<br />
who emptied the whole<br />
magazine (32 bullets) into<br />
his chest. According to eyewitnesses<br />
18 bullets were<br />
shot in the stomach of a<br />
budding youth Irfan Ahmed<br />
after marauds troopers<br />
found him breathing among<br />
the dead. Entire carbine<br />
was emptied in the chest of<br />
the neighbor of this youth<br />
who was later identified as<br />
Farooq Ahmed. They kept<br />
shooting, until everyone at<br />
the bridge was dead. “Some<br />
pretended to be dead and<br />
thus survived.”<br />
As the sounds of bullets<br />
got down, the bridge and<br />
the road was full of bodies.<br />
It was a scene from a war.<br />
The blood was rushing<br />
down the road into the river<br />
below making the water<br />
red.<br />
Fifty two people died<br />
and 250 sustained bullet<br />
injuries. However the<br />
official death toll was put<br />
to <strong>21</strong>. Police registered the<br />
FIR vide number 3/1990 at<br />
Kralkhud Police Station but<br />
it was registered against the<br />
‘atrocious mob’.<br />
‘Soften harsh<br />
stand against<br />
students’<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Hurriyat<br />
(G) has appealed the<br />
management of the Kashmir<br />
Government Polytechnic<br />
(KGP) to soften its harsh<br />
stand with regarding to<br />
the students who have<br />
been asked not to sit in<br />
the upcoming semester<br />
examination for shortage in<br />
attendance.<br />
Hurriyat (G) said that<br />
the decision of the College<br />
authorities will not only put<br />
the careers of the students<br />
at stake but it can also have<br />
negative impacts on their<br />
state of mind.<br />
According to a statement<br />
issued, Hurriyat (G)<br />
said that the delegation of<br />
the said students also came<br />
to the Hurriyat office here<br />
at Hyderpora and appraised<br />
the office about the issue.<br />
The students expressed their<br />
deep concern that if they<br />
are not allowed to sit in the<br />
exams, their entire academic<br />
year.<br />
The officials present at<br />
the Hurriyat office advised<br />
the students to concentrate<br />
on their studies and said<br />
that the education is the<br />
base of every civilized society<br />
and it also guarantees<br />
better future of the nations.<br />
Hurriyat (G) also appealed<br />
the management of<br />
the Polytechnic College to<br />
rethink over their decision<br />
with regarding to the said<br />
students and give them<br />
a chance to appear in the<br />
exams. (KNS)<br />
No civilian<br />
killed/injured<br />
in Marhama<br />
Anantnag: Police<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: No civilian<br />
has been killed or injured<br />
in Marhama, Anantnag<br />
as some rumor mongers<br />
updating on their Facebook<br />
pages.<br />
Some rumor mongers<br />
are updating on their Facebook<br />
pages that a civilian<br />
was killed and many other<br />
were injured in a firing incident<br />
at Marhama village<br />
of District Anantnag which<br />
is baseless and fabricated.<br />
People are requested not<br />
pay heeds on these rumors.<br />
Police has registered a<br />
case against these rumor<br />
mongers and investigation<br />
has been taken up. (KNS)<br />
Police books<br />
TeH leader:<br />
Hurriyat (G)<br />
Precious Kashmir News<br />
Srinagar, Jan 20: Police<br />
today booked another<br />
Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader<br />
Mehraj-ud-din Rubanni<br />
under the black law PSA and<br />
shifted him to the Baramullah<br />
sub Jail.<br />
While strongly condemning<br />
the government<br />
action, Chairman Hurriyat<br />
(G) Syed Ali Geelani demanded<br />
immediate release<br />
of all the political prisoners<br />
and the pro-freedom<br />
activists.<br />
According to a<br />
statement issued, a Tehreek-e-Hurriyat<br />
leader and<br />
the Srinagar district official<br />
Mehraj-ud-din Rubanni<br />
was today arrested by the<br />
Parimpora police station<br />
in Srinagar district court<br />
complex at the time when<br />
he was there to attend his<br />
case hearing.<br />
Immediately after his<br />
arrest, he was booked<br />
under the notorious and<br />
lawless law PSA and was<br />
immediately on the same<br />
day shifted to Baramullah<br />
District Jail. It is 8th<br />
such incident in the last<br />
3 months that a pro-freedom<br />
leader has been<br />
slapped with PSA. At<br />
present there are dozens<br />
of Hurriyat leaders detained<br />
under the PSA.
Precious Kashmir<br />
Controlling by owning<br />
Media is a strong force today. A phenomenon that has<br />
identified ways to get things done the way they are<br />
expected (by a few players) to be done. The ownership<br />
of media becomes all the more important since owning<br />
it means that you have control over how things are<br />
perceived, how people, policies, happenings, events,<br />
and changes etc. are described and finally whether<br />
they ought to be accepted or rejected by those who<br />
matter. Statistically speaking, until 2011, over 82,000<br />
publications were registered with the Registrar of<br />
Newspapers. Even though in India, news on radio is<br />
still a monopoly of the government, there are more<br />
than 250 FM (frequency modulation) radio stations<br />
in the country. Nearly 800 television channels have<br />
been allowed uplink or downlink by the Ministry of<br />
Information and Broadcasting. Among these, over 300<br />
claim to broadcast ‘news and current affairs’. Not to<br />
mention the endless list of websites and social media<br />
that adds a lot to the above numbers. How many channels<br />
out of those 300 ‘news and current affairs’ are we<br />
acquainted with? The channels that hit the chord may<br />
include IBN7, NDTV, TIMESNOW, ZEE NEWS, and ABP<br />
NEWS etc. The rest of the smaller players are either<br />
pushed into oblivion or are taken over by some major<br />
game changers. This phenomenon is called Oligopoly.<br />
Media oligopoly is a reality in today’s world. An oligopoly<br />
is when a few firms dominate a market. The<br />
process of oligopoly starts with buying out all the<br />
small scale companies. This ensures strengthening<br />
of the large players in the market. The competition<br />
is eliminated with buyouts and forced outs (lacking<br />
resources or finances). Hence the remaining parties<br />
tend to dominate the entire media market and create<br />
an oligopoly of media. The global media oligopoly<br />
includes large conglomerates like Viacom, CBS Corporation,<br />
Time Warner, <strong>21</strong>st Century Fox and News<br />
Corp, Bertelsmann AG, Sony, Comcast, Vivendi, Televisa,<br />
The Walt Disney Company, Hearst Corporation,<br />
Organizações Globo and Lagardère Group. As of 2012,<br />
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate<br />
in the US, with News Corporation, Time<br />
Warner and Viacom ranking second, third and fourth<br />
respectively. Internationally, Google is a major player<br />
in this Oligopoly. It has spent more than $28 billion<br />
on a whopping 173 companies since 2001. That's more<br />
than one company per month. Some of the companies<br />
it bought are YouTube, Android, AdMob, Motorola<br />
Mobility, Makani Power, Channel Intelligence, and 166<br />
more. Google’s dominance does not end in the online<br />
search and advertising world only; its research projects<br />
include creating a neural network, developing an<br />
energy kite that generates more energy at lower cost<br />
than conventional wind systems (Makani Power), and<br />
a lot others that will surprise us. The point of saying<br />
all this is that any media exposure today is not void<br />
of its own agendas. So as a thinking audience, blindly<br />
accepting any happening around the world would not<br />
be a smart choice.<br />
T<br />
Edit<br />
Srinagar,Thursday<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong> 4<br />
Philippines delicately wedged<br />
between US and China<br />
Richard Javad Heydarian<br />
he past few days have been abuzz with coverage<br />
of China’s wild economic swings, as volatility<br />
in its financial markets, coupled with structural<br />
slowdown, chip away at the country’s<br />
long-held image of prosperity. No less than<br />
George Soros, a global icon known for his prescient<br />
economic forecasts, has warned about<br />
the prospects of another global economic crisis<br />
on the heels of a whimpering China.<br />
For some countries, however, it is China’s growing<br />
territorial assertiveness in adjacent waters<br />
that is of grave concern. Undeterred by its<br />
anaemic economy and successive stock market<br />
meltdowns, China kicked off the year with a<br />
bang by conducting multiple test flights to bitterly<br />
contested islands in the South China Sea.<br />
Having constructed a gigantic airstrip on an<br />
artificially created island (Fiery Cross), China<br />
showed little reticence with displaying its<br />
growing ability to dominate the skies above<br />
arguably the world’s most important international<br />
waterway.<br />
Alarmed by China’s territorial assertiveness,<br />
the Philippines has once again opened up its<br />
most prized military base to US troops. Smaller<br />
neighbouring countries have desperately welcomed<br />
growing US military footprint in the<br />
region in order to stave off a revanchist China,<br />
which is gradually reconfiguring the Asian<br />
maritime seascape in its own image.<br />
A history of dependence<br />
For much of its modern history, the Philippines<br />
has lived in the shadow of its former colonial<br />
master, the United States. Though the Southeast<br />
Asian nation gained formal independence in<br />
the mid-20th century, it effectively outsourced<br />
its national security to Washington throughout<br />
the Cold War decades.<br />
A series of landmark agreements, particularly<br />
the Military Assistance Pact (1947), the Military<br />
Bases Agreement (1947), and the Mutual<br />
Defense Treaty (MDT) of 1951, undergirded the<br />
Philippines’ acute dependence on the superpower.<br />
The former US colony served as a critical forward<br />
deployment base against the Communist<br />
threat in East Asia. The eventual collapse of the<br />
Soviet Union ... unleashed a patriotic euphoria<br />
in the Philippines, which precipitated the ejection<br />
of US bases from the country shortly after.<br />
The Philippines, which hosted America’s largest<br />
overseas military bases in Subic and Clark,<br />
effectively acted as Washington’s unsinkable<br />
aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific.<br />
In particular, the former US colony served as a<br />
critical forward deployment base against the<br />
Communist threat in East Asia. The eventual<br />
collapse of the Soviet Union (1991), however,<br />
unleashed a patriotic euphoria in the Philippines,<br />
which precipitated the ejection of US<br />
bases from the country shortly after.<br />
Constitutionally, the Philippines was barred<br />
from hosting permanent US troops on its oil.<br />
The Philippines was by now intent on becoming<br />
more self-reliant, abandoning its explicitly<br />
pro-US foreign policy throughout the Cold War<br />
days. It didn’t take long, however, before the<br />
Philippines realised that it was dangerously<br />
unprepared for full independence.<br />
The China threat<br />
Shortly after the exit of US bases, China occupied<br />
the Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef,<br />
triggering a diplomatic crisis between the two<br />
neighbours.<br />
In response, the Philippines re-invited US soldiers<br />
under a Visiting Forces Agreement, which<br />
oversaw expanding joint military exercises between<br />
the two allies. But US troops were barred<br />
from (i) engaging in direct combat operations<br />
and (ii) establishing permanent bases in the<br />
Philippines.<br />
The South China Sea disputes are nothing new,<br />
dating back to the Cold War years when China<br />
squared up to Vietnam and other Southeast<br />
Asian countries for mastery of disputed islands,<br />
resources, and waters in the area.<br />
But in the past few years there has been a<br />
dramatic increase in the number of maritime<br />
spats, with China flexing its muscles at the expense<br />
of weaker claimant states such as the<br />
Philippines, which lost the Scarborough Shoal<br />
to its giant neighbour in 2012.<br />
In the past two years alone, China has engaged<br />
in a construction frenzy on disputed land features<br />
across the Spratly chain of islands, artificially<br />
transforming rocks, atolls and shoals<br />
into gigantic islands, which now host advanced<br />
dual-purpose facilities.<br />
Hopelessly outgunned by China, which has<br />
rapidly developed both its conventional and<br />
asymmetrical military capabilities, the Philippines<br />
has tried to solicit greater US military<br />
assistance in the form of the Enhanced Defense<br />
Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which<br />
was signed hours before US President Barack<br />
Obama’s visit to Manila in 2014.<br />
A group of patriotic and progressive groups,<br />
however, immediately challenged the new security<br />
agreement at the Philippine Supreme<br />
Court. They contend that the EDCA is a violation<br />
of Philippine sovereignty, will lead to more<br />
abuses by US soldiers against Filipino citizens,<br />
and necessitates the concurrence of the Philippine<br />
Senate, which bitterly resented being bypassed<br />
by the Benigno Aquino administration.<br />
Not Game-Changer<br />
After almost a year of deliberations, the country’s<br />
highest court ruled that the bilateral security<br />
agreement was consistent with Philippine<br />
constitution and, as an Executive Agreement,<br />
doesn’t necessitate Senate ratification. It was<br />
arguably a decision that was both populist and<br />
born out of an acute sense of urgency.<br />
The vast majority of Filipinos (92 percent) have<br />
a favourable view of the US, the highest among<br />
any nation, so they are expected to warmly<br />
welcome the prospect of growing US military<br />
presence in the country. Both the ruling establishment<br />
and majority of Filipinos are also<br />
deeply worried about China’s growing assertiveness<br />
in Philippine-claimed waters.<br />
Printer, Publisher, Owner : Afaq Ahmad Bhat<br />
Editor: Afaq Ahmad Bhat<br />
Legal Advisor: Hakim Sami Yaqoob (Advocate)<br />
Published From: Rajbagh Opposite Radio Colony Srinagar J&K<br />
Printed At: Alsafa Printing Press Hazuri Bagh Srinagar<br />
RNI No: JKENG/2013/55310<br />
Cell No: 9419081703<br />
Other Opinion<br />
Game, set and<br />
money<br />
World tennis finds itself in the throes of a<br />
major scandal with investigators’ revelations<br />
of a long-running match-fixing malaise<br />
exposed by the media, which timed the<br />
report for the start of the year’s first grand<br />
slam event. Much the same can be said about virtually any<br />
other modern sport because as yet no one has found a way<br />
to satisfy human greed. But very few sports make genuine<br />
attempts to get to the bottom of the matter, weed out the<br />
bad elements and contain the image damage, with the exception<br />
of soccer which is extremely serious about corruption,<br />
among players and referees at least.<br />
When the world’s top player of the contemporary game<br />
says he had been offered money to throw a match, the game<br />
must sit up and take notice. Safeguards like the integrity<br />
unit must be cranked to investigate thoroughly every rumour<br />
because the toxic canker of corruption is never far<br />
from ruining sport. When it is being said by private investigators<br />
that 16 players, including winners of grand slam<br />
titles and ranked in the world’s top 50, are involved in suspicious<br />
activity, and that many of them are actually playing<br />
the current Australian Open, there must be some fire<br />
behind all the smoke.<br />
It is too often the case that sports administrators prefer<br />
denial mode, hoping the whispers will go away; only sustained<br />
damage to the game’s credibility wakes them up.<br />
What greater hypocrisy can there be than allowing betting<br />
firms to sponsor international tournaments in soccer, tennis<br />
and cricket? This nexus between sport and the betting<br />
market must go if sport is serious about cleaning up the<br />
stables.<br />
Email: preciouskashmir@gmail.com<br />
Website: www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
How to keep start-ups<br />
standing<br />
Sanjeev Ahluwalia<br />
Startups are nimble problem solvers<br />
and disrupters. But babus have a<br />
deep aversion to be fingered by audit.<br />
Only an explicit budgetary direction<br />
to engage tangibly with startups can<br />
nudge departmental secretaries to risk public<br />
money.<br />
Being workaholics and 24x7 people, Team<br />
Modi must be avid coffee drinkers, with a<br />
yen for espresso. For the uninitiated, espresso<br />
is the end product of forcing boiling water<br />
through ground coffee, thereby concentrating<br />
the caffeine content and enhancing the “kick”.<br />
India’s “espresso” moment happened<br />
last Saturday in New Delhi with the grand<br />
inauguration of “Start Up Stand Up”, the new<br />
campaign with the unfortunate acronym<br />
SUSU. This new mission focuses government<br />
resources and effort around the creation of<br />
new entrepreneurs. Established businessmen<br />
were not welcome to join the party at Vigyan<br />
Bhawan. And some confusion prevailed<br />
whether startups in the old economy space<br />
were on the guest list, or it was restricted<br />
to the “new economy” subset of IT-enabled<br />
startups.<br />
But the crowd of young “been there and<br />
wannabe” entrepreneurs were not quibbling<br />
about such nit-picky issues. They were there<br />
to bond, stamp their feet and whistle their<br />
approval at being noticed and included in the<br />
national mainstream.<br />
The presence of the founders of Uber,<br />
WeWork and Softbank was icing on the cake,<br />
which undoubtedly was an extended opportunity<br />
for “selfies” with Prime Minister Modi.<br />
Expectedly, older inhabitants of this charmed<br />
business space were not impressed by the<br />
ground swell of support from the young. They<br />
spent their time warning against the danger<br />
of expecting too much from this space,<br />
which is already clogged. Apparently of the<br />
500 e-commerce startups launched in India,<br />
only 10 survive — a survival rate of 2 per cent.<br />
Internationally, the survival rate for startups<br />
is better at 40 per cent.<br />
But India’s burgeoning, literate, young<br />
“wannabe” entrepreneurs would have no<br />
truck with such pessimism. They pushed and<br />
shoved and cheered their way into the frisson<br />
of excitement which Team Modi had carefully<br />
generated for the event. Hope sprung eternal<br />
in every ones’ heart as Prime Minister Modi<br />
stoked the embers of youth entrepreneurship.<br />
So how long will the “espresso moment” last?<br />
Adrenalin has a self-regulating mechanism<br />
for ramping down. The Prime Minister’s<br />
gesture is a welcome beginning to look beyond<br />
the “big men in suits” for business solutions.<br />
Mr Modi is right when he looks to the<br />
young and the intrepid to take risks, follow<br />
their dreams and escape the golden handcuffs<br />
of contracted servitude. If we want to scale up<br />
jobs and disperse commercial opportunities<br />
across the country,facilitating small startups<br />
is likely to give the biggest bang for the public<br />
buck.<br />
India is not short of business enterprises.<br />
We have 1.4 million registered companies<br />
though 30 per cent are closed, being liquidated<br />
or not functional. In comparison, our workforce<br />
is around 700 million. Just one working<br />
company per 700 workers is way too low.<br />
Even worse,75 per cent of the operational<br />
companies have an authorised capital of less<br />
than Rs 25 lakh ($38,000) and one-third have<br />
less than Rs 1 lakh ($1,500). This illustrates<br />
their limited potential for adding to gross<br />
employment. It also explains why only 1.5<br />
per cent of the workforce is in formal, private<br />
employment, with the government providing<br />
jobs for another 2 per cent. Incentivising new<br />
entrepreneurs makes sense.<br />
The Prime Minister announced a package<br />
of goodies to induce those present to just go<br />
and do it — tax breaks; venture capital; easier<br />
entry and exit processes and innovation hubs.<br />
These are the basics for any industry to grow.<br />
But startups need more. By definition, a successful<br />
startup is small but poised for explosive<br />
growth company. This is what attracts<br />
investors to accept the higher risk in anticipation<br />
of the huge rewards from added volumes<br />
and scale.<br />
The government is best placed to help in<br />
adding scale. However, care must be taken<br />
that government finance does not dilute<br />
the financial discipline which private finance<br />
imposes. One option is for the finance<br />
minister to encourage ministries to spend a<br />
small proportion of their purchase budgets<br />
for this purpose. The Union government has<br />
a residual budget of around of Rs 7 lakh crore<br />
($100 billion), after accounting for salaries<br />
and pensions, overheads, interest payments<br />
and transfers to state governments. Even a 1<br />
per cent allocation for buy-back arrangements<br />
with startups translates into performance-dependent<br />
support of Rs 7,000 crore ($1 billion)<br />
annually. This amount could usefully provide<br />
a revenue cushion to around 500 startups.<br />
The Prime Minister proposed to provide<br />
Rs 2,000 crore ($300 million) annually as<br />
a public grant for institutional finance and<br />
a guarantee of around Rs 400 crore ($60<br />
million) to de-risk venture capital. Letting<br />
actual user departments contract directly<br />
with startups using their individual<br />
budgets is preferable. First, encouraging<br />
government departments to work with<br />
startups has the hope that some of the<br />
private sector mojo will rub-off on them.<br />
Indeed, government officials who participated<br />
in the inaugural function seemed<br />
a far cry from the stodgy, grumps that<br />
“babus” are presumed to be.<br />
Second, organically linking actual<br />
government users with startup founders<br />
bridges the chasm between small business<br />
and government. Startups are nimble<br />
problem solvers and disrupters. They can<br />
be used beneficially to enhance the effectiveness<br />
of public spending. But babus<br />
have a deep aversion to be fingered by<br />
audit. Only an explicit budgetary direction<br />
to engage tangibly with startups can<br />
nudge departmental secretaries to risk<br />
public money.Third, it makes sense to<br />
de-concentrate the mandate for growing<br />
startups across the entire government<br />
architecture. Embedding this objective<br />
into central schemes further extends this<br />
mission to the state governments which<br />
manage these schemes.<br />
Lastly, government should focus on encouraging<br />
startups in enhancing the rule of<br />
law, social protection, human development<br />
and agriculture. Commerce and industry are<br />
already well serviced by established mentors<br />
and private venture capital funds.<br />
Last Saturday’s fever in Vigyan Bhawan<br />
was just the froth at the top of a cup of<br />
espresso. Keeping the adrenalin going will<br />
take far more grounded effort to keep those<br />
who stood up from sitting down again.<br />
The writer is adviser, Observer Research<br />
Foundation<br />
>>>>>>>>> Please send your articles and letters on preciouskashmir@gmail.com >>>>>>>>>
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
Sensex Nifty Gold<br />
Business/ International<br />
Thursday<br />
5<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong><br />
Silver Dollar J&K Bank Yes Bank SBI ICICI Bank HDFC Bank<br />
417.80<br />
125.80<br />
227.00<br />
114.00<br />
0.31<br />
1.90<br />
35.00<br />
9.30<br />
4.35<br />
17.50<br />
24062.04<br />
7309.30<br />
26,284.00<br />
34,542.00<br />
67.95<br />
66.70<br />
646.25<br />
173.65<br />
224.40<br />
1,018.30<br />
Sensex ends 418 points lower at 24062<br />
Mumbai, Jan 20: Markets ended at fresh<br />
52-week closing lows on Wednesday after<br />
slump in crude oil prices and weak<br />
growth from China renewed fears of a<br />
global growth slowdown.<br />
The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 418<br />
points at 24,062 and the Nifty50 closed<br />
126 points lower at 7,309.<br />
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap<br />
and Smallcap indices ended down<br />
2% each. Market breadth ended negative<br />
with 2,085 losers and 589 gainers on the<br />
BSE.<br />
“Markets continue to remain under<br />
the overhang of a severe sell-off<br />
in global equities and where any sense<br />
of a bottom would only be realised<br />
when there is stability in the Chinese<br />
markets. Our current earnings season<br />
does not leave much scope for taking<br />
contrarian bets as positive surprises<br />
are likely to be few and far between.<br />
What’s made it worse for the broader<br />
market (mid-caps, small-caps) is the<br />
probable exit of the retail investor after<br />
nearly 14 months of support. Further,<br />
with the IMF downgrading its global<br />
GDP growth forecast for <strong>2016</strong> to 3.4%<br />
and keeping China well below 7% and<br />
with oil still fighting shy of a bottom<br />
global cues remain uncertain,” said<br />
Tirthankar Patnaik, India Strategist at<br />
Mizuho Bank.<br />
Meanwhile, the Indian rupee touched<br />
a 28-month low and was trading at 68.04<br />
to the dollar in intra-day trade after falling<br />
global crude oil prices sparked off<br />
global growth concerns.<br />
Crude oil prices fell further on concerns<br />
of oversupplies while resumption<br />
of exports from Iran also weighed on<br />
sentiment. Nymex crude futures were<br />
trading below $28 a barrel while Brent<br />
crude futures were trading tad above $28<br />
a barrel.<br />
SECTORS & STOCKS<br />
All sectoral indices ended in the red.<br />
The BSE Metal index was the top loser<br />
down 3% tracking weakness in China followed<br />
by Bankex, Capital Goods, Power<br />
and Realty indices among others.<br />
Of the 30 Sensex stocks only Bajaj<br />
Auto, Wipro and Hero MotoCorp ended<br />
with marginal gains.<br />
Index heavweight Reliance Industries<br />
which had gained in the run-up<br />
Oil prices fall further; US<br />
crude slumps below $28<br />
Singapore, Jan 20: Crude futures<br />
slumped again in early<br />
Asian trade on Wednesday,<br />
with U.S. oil falling to its lowest<br />
since September 2003<br />
below $28 a barrel on worries<br />
over a global supply glut.<br />
That came as the International<br />
Energy Agency,<br />
which advises industrialised<br />
countries on energy policy,<br />
warned on Tuesday that oil<br />
markets could “drown in<br />
oversupply”.<br />
U.S. crude futures were<br />
trading down 46 cents at<br />
$28.00 a barrel at 0136 GMT,<br />
after dropping to $27.92 earlier<br />
in the session – a new<br />
low since September 2003.<br />
The contract settled<br />
down 96 cents, or 3.26 percent,<br />
the session before.<br />
Brent futures dropped<br />
19 cents to $28.57 a barrel<br />
after settling up <strong>21</strong> cents, or<br />
0.7 per cent, in the previous<br />
session. They were hovering<br />
close to a 12-year low.<br />
“Oil prices are at a level<br />
where OPEC countries are<br />
all struggling. They are selling<br />
oil for cashflow not for<br />
profit,” said Jonathan Barratt,<br />
chief investment financial<br />
officer at Sydney’s Ayers Alliance.<br />
“U.S. producers are holding<br />
out, but I think they’re<br />
bleeding as well,” he said.<br />
“Looking at current<br />
prices, oil producers will<br />
engineer something to push<br />
prices higher.”<br />
U.S. commercial crude<br />
oil and gasoline stocks were<br />
forecast to have risen by 3<br />
million to 485.6 million barrels<br />
last week, a preliminary<br />
Reuters survey taken ahead<br />
of weekly inventory data,<br />
showed on Tuesday.<br />
Stocks data from industry<br />
group the American<br />
Petroleum Institute (API) is<br />
due out later on Wednesday,<br />
while official figures<br />
from the U.S. Department<br />
of Energy’s Energy Information<br />
Administration (EIA)<br />
will be released on Thursday,<br />
a day later due to a<br />
public holiday.<br />
Ample storage space for<br />
crude around the world, including<br />
230 million barrels<br />
of new storage to be completed<br />
this year, will help<br />
prevent further sharp price<br />
falls but will weigh against<br />
significant price rises, according<br />
to analysts and industry<br />
watchers.<br />
Global financial markets<br />
seem to be overreacting to<br />
falling oil prices and the risk<br />
of a sharp downturn in China’s<br />
economy, Maurice Obstfeld,<br />
the International Monetary<br />
Fund’s chief economist<br />
said on Tuesday.<br />
“The oil price puts<br />
stresses on oil exporters …<br />
but there is a silver lining<br />
for consumers worldwide,<br />
so it’s not an unmitigated<br />
negative.”<br />
to its third quarter earnings witnessed<br />
profit taking despite robust third quarter<br />
earnings. The stock ended down<br />
3.8% contributing the most to the market<br />
decline.<br />
Banks which are a proxy to the<br />
economy continued to witness selling<br />
pressure. ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI<br />
ended down 1.8%-5.1% each. Axis Bank<br />
ended down 1% ahead of its results later<br />
today. PNB, Bank of Baroda ended down<br />
3.2-5.8% each.<br />
L&T recovered from its day’s low to<br />
JK Bank vigorous on CSR initiatives in Jammu<br />
Chairman lays<br />
foundation at<br />
“Balgran”<br />
Jammu, Jan 20: Continuing<br />
with its Corporate Social Responsibility<br />
programme to<br />
reach out to organisations<br />
working for the welfare of<br />
poor and neglected in the<br />
state, J&K Bank today inaugurated<br />
the construction of<br />
a dormitory for girls at BAL-<br />
GRAN, Charitable Home for<br />
destitute/children at Chhani<br />
Rama.<br />
The Bank’s Chairman<br />
and CEO Mushtaq Ahmad<br />
laid the foundation stone<br />
for the dormitory, to be<br />
built exclusively for girls,<br />
amid appreciation and applause<br />
from a gathering of<br />
socially conscious citizens<br />
of state in a simple yet impressive<br />
function. Executive<br />
President Abdul Rauf Bhat,<br />
Zonal Head Jammu (Central)<br />
Arvind Gupta, Vice-<br />
end down 0.9%. The company today announced<br />
that the heavy civil infrastructure<br />
business along with its joint venture<br />
partner, Daewoo E&C of South Korea, has<br />
won a major order worth Rs 3,115 crore<br />
from the Bihar State Road Development<br />
Corporation.<br />
Other Sensex losers include, Tata Motors,<br />
Infosys, ITC, HDFC and Adani Ports<br />
among others.<br />
Among other shares, Aditya Birla<br />
Nuvo ended down at Rs 883 after the<br />
stock turned today ex-scheme of arrangement<br />
today. In May last year, Aditya<br />
Birla Nuvo announced merger of all<br />
its branded apparel businesses into one<br />
entity, Pantaloons Fashion & Retail now<br />
known as Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail.<br />
Under the scheme of arrangement,<br />
the apparel businesses of group holding<br />
company Aditya Birla Nuvo (ABNL) and<br />
of another group firm Madura Garments<br />
Lifestyle Retail would be demerged into<br />
listed firm Pantaloons Fashion & Retail<br />
(PFRL).<br />
BASF ended down 4.3%, after hitting<br />
its 52-week low, as the specialty chemicals<br />
reported a higher net loss of Rs 106<br />
China offers support for Yemen govt<br />
as Xi Jinping visits Saudi Arabia<br />
Beijing, Jan 20: China has signalled<br />
its support for Yemen`s government,<br />
which is fighting an Iran-allied militia,<br />
on the first day of a visit to Saudi<br />
Arabia by Chinese President Xi Jinping,<br />
who will also be heading to<br />
Tehran later in the week.<br />
A Saudi-led coalition began a<br />
military campaign last year against<br />
the Iranian-allied Shi`ite Houthi<br />
movement in Yemen, which has<br />
seized the capital, Sanaa. The government<br />
of President Abd-Rabbu<br />
Mansour Hadi is now based in the<br />
southern city of Aden.<br />
Riyadh sees the Houthis as a<br />
proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to<br />
expand its influence in the impoverished<br />
Arabian Peninsula nation.<br />
The Houthis deny this and say they<br />
are waging a revolution against a<br />
corrupt government and Gulf Arab<br />
powers beholden to the West.<br />
A growing diplomatic dispute<br />
between Riyadh and Tehran,<br />
triggered by mainly Sunni Saudi<br />
Arabia`s execution of a prominent<br />
Shi`ite cleric, has damaged the outlook<br />
for any resolution to the conflict<br />
in Yemen.<br />
Saudi Arabia and China said in<br />
a statement on Wednesday that<br />
the two countries affirmed their<br />
support for the unity, independence<br />
and sovereignty of Yemen. The<br />
statement was released by China`s<br />
Foreign Ministry after Xi met Saudi<br />
King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh<br />
on Tuesday.<br />
All social, religious and political<br />
groups in Yemen should maintain<br />
their national solidarity and avoid<br />
Kurds destroyed ‘thousands’<br />
of Arab homes in Iraq<br />
Baghdad, Jan 20: Kurdish forces have destroyed<br />
thousands of homes in northern<br />
Iraq in an apparent attempt to uproot Arab<br />
communities, Amnesty International said<br />
Wednesday.<br />
The rights group said the destruction<br />
took place after Kurdish forces captured<br />
areas from ISIS, which overran swathes of<br />
territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014.<br />
Destruction and theft of property has<br />
been a frequent occurence in the war against<br />
ISIS, angering residents whose support security<br />
forces may need to hold recaptured<br />
areas. “Peshmerga forces from the Kurdistan<br />
Regional Government (KRG) and Kurdish<br />
militias in northern Iraq have bulldozed,<br />
blown up and burned down thousands of<br />
homes communities in revenge for their<br />
perceived support” of ISIS, Amnesty said<br />
in a statement. The autonomous Kurdish<br />
region’s “forces appear to be spearheading<br />
a concerted campaign to forcibly displace<br />
Arab communities,” Donatella Rovera, Amnesty’s<br />
senior crisis response adviser, said in<br />
the statement.<br />
“The forced displacement of civilians<br />
and the deliberate destruction of homes and<br />
property without military justification may<br />
amount to war crimes,” Rovera said.<br />
Arab civilians who fled fighting have<br />
also been barred from returning home.<br />
Amnesty documented evidence of<br />
“forced displacement and large-scale destruction<br />
of homes” by Kurdish forces in<br />
three provinces: Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala.<br />
The London-based rights watchdog<br />
published a similar report about Kurdish<br />
forces in neighboring Syria in October, accusing<br />
the “autonomous administration”<br />
led by Syrian Kurds of war crimes.<br />
any decisions that may cause social<br />
disruption and chaos, it said.<br />
“Both sides stressed support for<br />
the legitimate regime of Yemen,”<br />
the statement said.<br />
Xi is expected in Iran later in the<br />
week, with a further stop in Egypt<br />
after he leaves Saudi Arabia.<br />
Asked whether China was siding<br />
with Saudi Arabia over Yemen<br />
and whether that could risk upsetting<br />
Iran, Chinese Foreign Ministry<br />
spokesman Hong Lei said China had<br />
always acted in the interests of the<br />
Beijing, Jan 20: The European Union`s<br />
ambassador to China said Wednesday<br />
it had “grave concerns” over Beijing`s<br />
detentions of EU citizens, hours after<br />
state media broadcast the purported<br />
confession of a Swedish activist held by<br />
authorities.<br />
Peter Dahlin, who worked for the<br />
Chinese Urgent Action Working Group,<br />
disappeared earlier this month as he<br />
prepared to board a flight to Thailand,<br />
and appears to have been caught up in<br />
a crackdown on human rights lawyers.<br />
State broadcaster China Central Television,<br />
showed a video of him confessing<br />
that he had “violated Chinese law<br />
through my activities here”.<br />
In stilted tones, he declared: “I have<br />
hurt the feelings of the Chinese people.<br />
I apologise sincerely for this.”<br />
Yemeni people and maintaining<br />
peace in the Middle East, and had<br />
promoted peace talks.<br />
“(We) hope clashes in Yemen<br />
can come to an end as soon as possible<br />
and there can be reconciliation<br />
so the country can return to<br />
stability,” Hong told a daily news<br />
briefing.<br />
China relies on the region for<br />
oil but has tended to leave Middle<br />
Eastern diplomacy to the other four<br />
permanent members of the U.N. Security<br />
Council - the United States,<br />
Britain, France and Russia.<br />
However, China has been trying<br />
to get more involved, especially in<br />
Syria, and recently hosted its foreign<br />
minister and opposition officials.<br />
China and Saudi Arabia expressed<br />
deep concern about Syria<br />
and renewed a call for a peaceful political<br />
settlement as soon as possible.<br />
A Chinese president has not<br />
visited Saudi Arabia since 2009,<br />
when Hu Jintao went. Jiang Zemin<br />
was the last Chinese president to<br />
visit Iran, in 2002.<br />
Ankara, Jan 20: US President<br />
Barack Obama and<br />
Turkish President Tayyip<br />
Erdogan pledged continued<br />
cooperation in the fight<br />
against militants, including<br />
ISIS and Kurdistan Workers<br />
Party (PKK) militants, the<br />
White House and Turkish<br />
presidential sources said.<br />
During his phone call to<br />
Erdogan, Obama offered his<br />
condolences for last week’s<br />
bombing in Istanbul, when<br />
10 German tourists were<br />
killed in a suicide attack<br />
blamed on ISIS, the White<br />
House and Turkish presidential<br />
sources said.<br />
Obama also condemned<br />
a recent string of attacks<br />
by the PKK against Turkish<br />
security forces, and he<br />
stressed the need for deescalation,<br />
the White House<br />
said in a statement.<br />
The two leaders said<br />
the fight against terrorism<br />
would be among a number<br />
of topics on the agenda<br />
Dahlin`s group has said it offered<br />
training to human rights lawyers who<br />
have tried to use China`s tightly-controlled<br />
judiciary to redress apparent<br />
government abuses.<br />
“I have no complaints to make,” the<br />
Swede was shown saying. “I think my<br />
treatment has been fair.”<br />
Two purported Chinese colleagues<br />
of Dahlin were also shown declaring<br />
their guilt.<br />
In China high-profile criminal suspects<br />
are regularly paraded on television<br />
apparently confessing to their actions,<br />
in what rights lawyers say is a<br />
violation of criminal procedure.<br />
It is rare for China to accuse foreigners<br />
of national security offences, which<br />
can carry heavy penalties, although<br />
some have been accused of spying.<br />
crore for the third quarter ended December<br />
2015 (Q3FY16) as against loss of Rs 40<br />
crore in the same quarter last year.<br />
GLOBAL MARKETS<br />
Asian stocks retreated after gaining<br />
in the previous session as further slide<br />
in global crude oil prices weighed on investor<br />
sentiment. US crude futures fell<br />
below $28 per barrel while Brent crude<br />
was trading below $29 a barrel.Chinese<br />
stocks which had surged over 3% in the<br />
previous session was trading with marginal<br />
losses. Among other markets in the<br />
region, Nikkei was down 2.2%, Hang Seng<br />
eased 3% while Straits Times was down<br />
nearly 2%.<br />
European shares also witnessed a<br />
sell-off tracking the sharp slide in global<br />
crude oil prices and concerns over global<br />
economy. Major stock indices like the<br />
DAX, CAC-40 and FTSE were down over<br />
2.8%-3.5% each.<br />
NIIT ended up 4% in an otherwise<br />
weak market after the company today<br />
reported 12% Year-on-Year (YoY) jump<br />
in consolidated net profit at Rs 13.7<br />
crore for the third quarter ended December<br />
31, 2015 (Q3FY16).<br />
President Shujaat Hussain<br />
Andrabi and other officers<br />
of the bank along with entire<br />
BALGRAN management<br />
team were present on the<br />
occasion.<br />
Speaking on the occasion<br />
Chairman said, “Making<br />
the economic development<br />
of J&K more and more<br />
inclusive in its scope and<br />
substance has been the purpose<br />
of our Bank throughout<br />
its remarkable journey<br />
for more than seven decades<br />
now.”<br />
“As conscious corporate<br />
citizen, we follow this<br />
philosophy of inclusion in<br />
our CSR programme also<br />
whereby we extend our<br />
helping hand to all the organisations<br />
that focus on<br />
bringing the individuals and<br />
groups at the margins of society<br />
to its secure and dignified<br />
core. And in this scheme<br />
of things our daughters deserve<br />
the best we can offer.”<br />
While visiting the entire<br />
‘home’ which houses<br />
the school for children also,<br />
Chairman announced the<br />
establishment of 3 smart<br />
classes for 8th, 9th and 10th<br />
classes besides face-lifting.<br />
He also committed to develop<br />
the school ground for<br />
children’s sports.<br />
He promised to supervise<br />
the entire thing personally<br />
and see it completed by<br />
the end of this financial year.<br />
The Chairman said, “I<br />
feel privileged to be at this<br />
function today and I wish<br />
all these wonderful children<br />
here at BALGRAN a bright<br />
and better future ahead.<br />
I hope the smart classes<br />
would keep them updated<br />
on the information and<br />
knowledge front while as<br />
the sports ground would<br />
help them build other capacities<br />
important for their<br />
personality development.”<br />
“It is a small step towards<br />
creating a better and secure<br />
social milieu for all of our<br />
own children”, he added.<br />
Obama, Erdogan vow<br />
cooperation against terror<br />
when U.S. Vice President Joe<br />
Biden visits Turkey on Saturday.<br />
NATO member Turkey, a<br />
member of the U.S.-led coalition<br />
battling Islamic State<br />
in Syria and Iraq (ISIS), has<br />
increasingly become a target<br />
for the militants.<br />
Prime Minister Ahmet<br />
Davutoglu blamed ISIS for<br />
the bombing on Jan. 12 in<br />
Istanbul’s historic heart. The<br />
suicide bomber is thought<br />
to have crossed recently<br />
from Syria.<br />
ISIS is also believed to<br />
be behind other attacks last<br />
year in Turkey, including<br />
EU has ‘grave concerns’ on<br />
China’s detention of Europeans<br />
The EU was “deeply concerned”<br />
about cases such as Dahlin`s, the<br />
grouping`s ambassador to China<br />
Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut told reporters.<br />
“We do hope it`s not representing<br />
the new normal yet, but we do see an<br />
extremely worrying trend,” he said.<br />
Dahlin`s case came after two Hong Kong<br />
booksellers with European citizenship<br />
vanished -- one from the former British<br />
colony and the other from Thailand<br />
-- to re-emerge in China, raising fears of<br />
Chinese authorities operating internationally.<br />
Lee Bo, who has a British passport,<br />
and Swede Gui Minhai were both born<br />
in China and were rumoured to be preparing<br />
a tell-all book about the love life<br />
of Chinese President Xi Jinping.<br />
NIIT Q3 net proft<br />
at Rs 13.7 crore<br />
Mumbai, Jan 20: Education<br />
company NIIT Limited posted<br />
net profit of Rs 13.7 crore for<br />
quarter ended December 31,<br />
2015 compared to Rs 1.8 crore<br />
posted in same quarter previous<br />
fiscal. The net revenue at<br />
Rs 262.3 crore, up 6 per cent<br />
year-on-year.<br />
In a press statement, the<br />
company said that they have<br />
expanded Europe operations<br />
and that they have commissioned<br />
new facilities in<br />
Norway & Ireland.<br />
Rahul Patwardhan, chief<br />
executive officer, NIIT Limited<br />
said: “Global corporate training<br />
outsourcing is growing<br />
steadily. While we further<br />
strengthened our Corporate<br />
Learning Business operations<br />
in US and Europe during the<br />
quarter, NIIT is now positioned<br />
to leverage emerging<br />
corporate learning group<br />
(CLG) opportunities back<br />
home in India, as we perceive<br />
a huge potential for industryaligned,<br />
globally benchmarked<br />
corporate learning<br />
solutions from leading<br />
corporates in the country.”<br />
CLG which offers Managed<br />
Training Services (MTS)<br />
to market-leading companies<br />
in North America, Europe,<br />
Asia, and Oceania, recorded<br />
net revenues of Rs 158.6 crore<br />
during the quarter, up 17 per<br />
cent over same period of the<br />
previous year. It added one<br />
new MTS customer in Q3,<br />
taking the total number of<br />
customers to 27, with a Revenue<br />
Visibility of $195 million<br />
for CLG.<br />
Further, strengthening<br />
operations in key international<br />
markets including Europe<br />
and North America, NIIT<br />
announced the establishment<br />
of a new facility in Bergen,<br />
Norway to expand nearshore<br />
multi-lingual delivery<br />
capability and further invest<br />
in the rapid growth of its<br />
business in Europe. NIIT now<br />
has three established centers<br />
in Europe - Dublin, Bergen,<br />
and London with a diverse<br />
mix of pan-European staff<br />
from the UK, Ireland, Norway,<br />
the Netherlands, Romania,<br />
and Germany.<br />
one in the capital Ankara in<br />
which more than 100 people<br />
were killed.<br />
Turkey’s predominantly<br />
Kurdish southeast is currently<br />
engulfed in the worst<br />
violence since the 1990s after<br />
the collapse last July of<br />
a two-year-long ceasefire<br />
with PKK militants.<br />
Last week the PKK,<br />
deemed a terrorist organization<br />
by the United States<br />
and the European Union as<br />
well as by Turkey, attacked a<br />
police station in a Diyarbakir<br />
district with a truck bomb,<br />
killing six people including<br />
a baby and two toddlers.<br />
Japan approves<br />
$350 mn for Syrian,<br />
Iraqi refugees<br />
Tokyo, Jan 20: Japan`s<br />
Parliament on Wednesday<br />
approved $350 million in<br />
humanitarian aid and other<br />
support for refugees fleeing<br />
violence in Syria and Iraq.<br />
The fresh round of aid<br />
comes in addition to $810<br />
million to assist refugees<br />
inside and outside Syria and<br />
Iraq, which was announced<br />
last year.<br />
The $350 million was<br />
included in a supplementary<br />
budget bill for the<br />
current fiscal year ending<br />
March that lawmakers<br />
approved, a parliamentary<br />
spokeswoman and a foreign<br />
ministry official said.
PRECIOUS KASHMIR<br />
HEALTH<br />
5 common causes of a bloated belly<br />
Here are five common causes<br />
of a bloated belly. The reasons<br />
could be trivial but it’s better<br />
to get a check-up.<br />
You’re not pregnant and<br />
you haven’t gained weight,<br />
but your jeans are straining at<br />
the waist. What’s going on?<br />
Irritable bowel syndrome<br />
Could be the cause if:<br />
You’ve been bloated on and<br />
off for a long time and have<br />
also experienced symptoms<br />
including pain, constipation<br />
and/or bouts of diarrhoea.<br />
A common bowel condition,<br />
IBS is a functional<br />
disorder which means there’s<br />
nothing wrong with the<br />
structure of the bowel itself,<br />
but the way the gut works is<br />
abnormal. Peter Whorwell,<br />
professor of medicine and<br />
gastroenterology at the University<br />
of Manchester, says,<br />
“We think the gut is over-sensitive<br />
in IBS sufferers so it’s<br />
normal processes which<br />
cause the symptoms.”<br />
Bloating is one of the<br />
most disruptive side-effects<br />
FROM FRONT PAGE.....................<br />
Gunmen........<br />
of IBS. Some women go up<br />
a couple of dress sizes and<br />
even need different clothes<br />
depending on whether or not<br />
they are bloated. For many, it<br />
tends to worsen towards the<br />
evening, so it can disrupt your<br />
social life. There’s no cure for<br />
IBS, but you can manage the<br />
symptoms. “Cutting out cereal<br />
fibre eases symptoms by<br />
between 30% and 40% in the<br />
majority of sufferers,” says<br />
Professor Whorwell.<br />
This means avoiding<br />
wholemeal bread, oats, muesli,<br />
digestive biscuits, cereal<br />
bars and all breakfast cereals<br />
other than rice krispies. But<br />
white bread, cakes, cream<br />
crackers and most biscuits<br />
are fine. Try doing this for<br />
three months to see if it<br />
helps. Probiotics may also<br />
ease symptoms. Try yoghurts,<br />
as the probiotic strain they<br />
contain has been shown to<br />
help IBS.<br />
Doctors can prescribe<br />
medication such as anti-spasmodics,<br />
laxatives and<br />
reports said the terrorists are between 18 and 25 years old.<br />
University Chancellor Dr Fazal Rahim said there are over<br />
3,000 students present inside the university along with an additional<br />
600 guests who are present for a poetic symposium to<br />
mark the death anniversary of Khudai Khidmatgar Khan Abdul<br />
Ghaffar Khan alias Baacha Khan who died on <strong>January</strong> 20, 1988.<br />
The terrorists barged into the university where the event<br />
was being attended by a large number of students.<br />
Rahim said four guards of university and one policeman<br />
were killed in attack.<br />
Geo TV reported that Professor Hamid Hussain of chemistry<br />
department was also among dead.<br />
"A teacher of the varsity after evacuation said Chairman<br />
Chemistry Department Hamid has been martyred by the firing<br />
of the militants," it said, adding the terrorists barged into Hamid's<br />
room and fired at his head, killing him instantly.<br />
The Taliban militants massacred over 150 people, mostly<br />
students, in an attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in<br />
December, 2014.<br />
Pakistan Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif among other<br />
leaders have strongly condemned attack on Bacha Khan University<br />
that claimed twenty lives, Dunya News reported Wednesday.<br />
In a statement issued, the Sharif condemned the terror attack.<br />
PM Nawaz has vowed to cripple terror network and eliminate<br />
extremism from the country.<br />
In a message posted on Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra<br />
Modi has denounced the attack in Pakistan’s university.<br />
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has<br />
also condemned the attack. The opposition party chief is about<br />
to leave for Charsadda to visit the attack site and review the ongoing<br />
operation.<br />
Mehbooba.......<br />
anti-diarrhoeals. “There’s no<br />
problem taking laxatives and<br />
anti-diarrhoeals in the long<br />
term if you have IBS,” adds<br />
Professor Whorwell.<br />
Flatulence<br />
Could be the cause if:<br />
You are passing a lot of wind,<br />
but don’t notice any other<br />
symptoms. We all experience<br />
flatulence from time to time<br />
— it’s perfectly normal to do<br />
so up to 15 times a day — and<br />
sometimes you may not even<br />
notice that you are doing<br />
it. While there’s no medical<br />
definition of excessive<br />
flatulence, if it’s bothering<br />
you and makes life awkward<br />
or feels uncomfortable, there<br />
are steps you can take to<br />
reduce it.<br />
Try cutting down on foods<br />
that are high in non-absorbable<br />
carbs. Common culprits<br />
include beans and pulses,<br />
broccoli, cabbage, prunes and<br />
apples, and foods containing<br />
the sugar substitute sorbitol.<br />
These tend to be digested<br />
very slowly and can release<br />
How to prevent and<br />
treat cold & cough<br />
As the temperatures drop, more and<br />
more people have been falling prey to<br />
common ailments such as chest congestion,<br />
cough and cold.<br />
We have all been hearing of<br />
colleagues, friends and family calling<br />
in sick to work, mostly due to<br />
these ailments, which might seem<br />
small but have a huge and detrimental<br />
effect on one’s work and<br />
personal life due to loss of productive<br />
work hours.<br />
“While there are numerous remedies<br />
and solutions available to treat<br />
chest congestion, this alarming statistic<br />
forces us to think about why it affects<br />
such a large number of our population.<br />
We are exposed to a number of viruses<br />
all day long, but some people seem<br />
more susceptible to catching colds or<br />
the flu than others,” says Dr. Sanjeev<br />
Mehta, Chest Physician, Lilavati Hospital,<br />
Mumbai.<br />
One can easily prevent this condition<br />
from recurring and having a detrimental<br />
effect on our day to day lives<br />
and overall productivity by keeping the<br />
following easy tips in mind.<br />
Step #1 to fight cold & cough<br />
Deciding on a ‘Suppressant’ or an<br />
‘Expectorant’<br />
The first and foremost step towards<br />
finding a solution is to identify the kind<br />
of cough you have and treat it with the<br />
right kind of cough syrup. There are two<br />
kinds of cough: ‘dry’ or non-productive<br />
cough and ‘wet’ or productive cough.<br />
While a ‘wet’ or productive cough is a<br />
condition where one produces phlegm<br />
while coughing, a ‘dry’ cough sees no<br />
such production.<br />
Different types of cough syrups are<br />
required to treat the different symptoms<br />
of these ailments. One suffering<br />
from a dry cough requires a suppressant<br />
that will curb the urge to cough,<br />
while an expectorant that helps in<br />
thinning, loosening and expelling the<br />
mucus accumulated in the lungs helps<br />
relieve a wet cough.<br />
Step #2 to fight cold & cough<br />
Eat spicy and warm foods<br />
Foods such as chili, ginger, jalapeno,<br />
garlic and black pepper that are spicy<br />
may help if you are suffering from a bad<br />
case of chest congestion. These food<br />
items help in thinning the mucus and<br />
making it easier to breathe. Consuming<br />
food at a high temperature also helps as<br />
the heat kills the harmful bacteria that<br />
can aggravate the condition.<br />
Step #3 to fight cold & cough<br />
Steam inhalation<br />
This is one of the easiest and best<br />
home remedies to supplement your<br />
medication and beat chest congestion.<br />
It is advised to heat water in a bowl and<br />
add any vaporizer or eucalyptus oil.<br />
Vaporized steam also helps in thinning<br />
and loosening of the solidifying mucus<br />
and makes it easier to breath, giving<br />
immediate relief.<br />
Step #4 to fight cold & cough<br />
Fruits, vegetables and juices<br />
Consuming food products rich in<br />
vitamins and minerals such as vegetables<br />
and fruits help boost immunity<br />
levels. Juices as well as warm liquids are<br />
also advised during sickness as they are<br />
high in essential vitamins and help in<br />
flushing out toxins from the body.Step<br />
#5 to fight cold & cough<br />
Milk and turmeric<br />
While turmeric is well known for<br />
its medicinal properties, milk is equivalent<br />
to a complete meal owing to the<br />
high nutrients it contains. Taking a<br />
warm glass of milk with a spoon full<br />
of turmeric powder two to three times<br />
a day helps in fighting the bacterial<br />
growth caused by cough and chest congestion<br />
as well as in loosening phlegm.<br />
Step #6 to fight cold & cough<br />
Regular exercise<br />
Maintaining a moderate and consistent<br />
exercise regime goes a long way<br />
in helping one stay physically fit and<br />
increasing immunity levels, and gives<br />
a temporary boost in the production<br />
of the cells that attack bacteria, helping<br />
one avoid illnesses and maintaining<br />
overall good health.<br />
people and the Government of Pakistan in their resolve to fight<br />
the menace of terrorism and condemn use of violence under<br />
any circumstance,” she said and added that the atrocity of this<br />
proportion should outrage the feelings of every human being.<br />
Mehbooba said the attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan<br />
in December 2014 and the recent attack on an airbase in<br />
Pathankote area of Punjab are a grim reminder of how the terrorists<br />
are trying to destabilize the region by shedding the blood<br />
of innocents.<br />
She said such gruesome and heinous attacks only reiterate<br />
the inevitability of greater cooperation between India and Pakistan<br />
to eliminate the scourge of terrorism from the region.<br />
Pulwama........<br />
which was retaliated. “During the ensuing encounter, more<br />
than 50 civilians who had got entrapped due to cross firing in a<br />
nearby mosque were rescued safely by the Pulwama police. In<br />
the gun battle, one dreaded militant of HM outfit got killed who<br />
was later identified as Shariq Ahmed Bhat of Brow Bandana,<br />
Awantipora.<br />
“During the operation, a large number of protesters came<br />
towards operation site and pelted stones on the security forces.<br />
Security forces exercised maximum restraint and 17 security<br />
force personnel got injured - including Nazir Ahmed Ganai,<br />
DySP of 18 Bn. IRP who sustained multiple fractures in his leg. A<br />
police vehicle was also set ablaze by the protesters. During the<br />
uncontrolled protests, three protesters got firearm injuries, out<br />
of which, one Parvaiz Ahmed Guroo resident of Naina later succumbed<br />
to his injuries. The condition of other two rioters is said<br />
to be stable. Case FIR No. 10/16 and 11/16 stand registered in PS<br />
Pulwama and investigation is on.” (CNS)<br />
Guv........<br />
legal framework is suitably modified to enable effective investigations<br />
in terror cases.<br />
"The existing Schedule to the NIA Act also requires to be<br />
reviewed for enlarging the list of offences to particularly cover<br />
those under the Ranbir Penal Code, Arms Act, NDPS Act, Explosive<br />
Substances Act and Cyber Terrorism offences, among others,"<br />
he said.<br />
Inclusion of Ranbir Penal Code, which is a substitute to Indian<br />
Penal Code(IPC) in Jammu and Kashmir, means that National<br />
Investigation Agency (NIA) can take over any case registered<br />
under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act<br />
as well as RPC.<br />
Under the NIA Act, which came into force after the 2008<br />
Mumbai attack, the agency can take over any case related to terror<br />
suo-motu except for Jammu and Kashmir where it requires<br />
permission of the state government before taking up the investigation.<br />
Both PDP and NC have been opposing giving sweeping<br />
powers to NIA to take suo motu cognisance of terror-related<br />
cases in the state.<br />
PDP leader Nayeem Akther said that his party requires time<br />
to study the statement of the Governor and that it will come out<br />
with its response later while NC spokesman said that the party<br />
will not support any such move.<br />
"The Governor should leave such decision to be taken by a<br />
small amounts of sulphur gas<br />
while they pass through the<br />
gut.<br />
Nutrition consultant Ian<br />
Marber says, “Eat food slowly<br />
and remember to chew. Without<br />
chewing, food is more<br />
likely to pass into the gut<br />
partially broken down and<br />
there’s a higher chance it will<br />
ferment and produce gas.” Be<br />
aware that occasionally, an<br />
underlying health condition<br />
— including those that are<br />
listed here — could also be<br />
causing flatulence.<br />
Coeliac disease<br />
Could be the cause if:<br />
You often feel tired; you’ve<br />
lost weight for no apparent<br />
reason; you are suffering<br />
from abdominal pain. Coeliac<br />
disease is an adverse reaction<br />
to gluten, which is found<br />
in wheat, barley, rye and<br />
all foods containing them<br />
— everything from pasta<br />
and bread to pies and some<br />
gravies and sauces. It is an auto-immune<br />
condition where<br />
the body mistakes substances<br />
in the gluten for a threat<br />
and attacks them, leading<br />
to damage to the surface of<br />
the small bowel, which then<br />
affects your ability to absorb<br />
nutrients from food.<br />
It used to be mainly diagnosed<br />
in children, but it’s now<br />
known that people can go<br />
undiagnosed into middle age.<br />
If you have these symptoms,<br />
see your doctor and ask to<br />
have a blood test for coeliac<br />
disease. National Institute for<br />
Health and Clinical Excellence<br />
guidelines state that anyone<br />
with bloating and other<br />
IBS-type symptoms should<br />
be tested for it. If you’re diagnosed,<br />
you’ll feel better once<br />
you start avoiding all foods<br />
containing gluten.<br />
Ovarian cancer<br />
Could be the cause if:<br />
Bloating is persistent and you<br />
have other symptoms such as<br />
a perpetual feeling of fullness<br />
and abdominal pain. The<br />
symptoms of ovarian cancer<br />
tend to be quite vague, which<br />
is often why it’s diagnosed<br />
popularly elected government," the spokesman said.<br />
CPM leader and MLA Mohammed Yusuf Tarigami saw the<br />
statement as a move to encroach upon the autonomy of the<br />
state. "This is an attempt to encroach on whatever autonomy is<br />
left," Tarigami said.<br />
Youth........<br />
late when it’s harder to treat.<br />
So it’s important to be aware<br />
of potential signs. Cancer expert<br />
Annwen Jones says, “Key<br />
symptoms are bloating that is<br />
persistent rather than coming<br />
and going and increased<br />
abdominal size. Look out for<br />
persistent and frequent abdominal<br />
pain, difficulty eating<br />
and urinary symptoms.”<br />
Hormonal fluctuations<br />
Could be the cause if: You<br />
are premenstrual or in the early<br />
stages of pregnancy. During<br />
pregnancy, and just before your<br />
period, levels of the hormone<br />
progesterone are raised. This<br />
can slow down gut mobility or<br />
movement, which means food<br />
passes more slowly through<br />
the body, leading to bloating<br />
and possibly constipation. But<br />
you can beat the bloat. Exercise<br />
can help improve gut mobility<br />
and walking for 30 minutes a<br />
day could be enough to make<br />
the difference. Also, drink plenty<br />
of fluids and eat lots of fruit,<br />
vegetables and whole grains to<br />
avoid constipation.<br />
Type more to cut-down<br />
blood pressure!<br />
If you are often nabbed by your parents<br />
for text messaging, then you must<br />
make them read this article as a new<br />
study has revealed that typing could<br />
help reduce blood pressure.<br />
Researchers from have found that<br />
the high blood pressure is a common<br />
condition that can be managed successfully<br />
with tablets. To prove the<br />
research, health workers used mobile<br />
phones linked to blood pressure<br />
measuring devices to collect health<br />
information about patients and text<br />
messaging was managed automatically<br />
using an affordable calculating<br />
system.<br />
Professor Lionel Tarassenko from<br />
the reseacrh team said that there was<br />
a great potential for mobile phone<br />
technology to help with the management<br />
of chronic diseases world-wide<br />
through automated messaging to the<br />
right person at the right time. He<br />
added, through this study, that they<br />
have demonstrated that how this<br />
could be done in an area where large<br />
numbers of people are at risk because<br />
of uncontrolled blood pressure.<br />
www.preciouskashmir.com<br />
Srinagar | Thursday<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong><br />
36<br />
Antidepressants<br />
easily<br />
available<br />
Indian American psychiatrist<br />
Dr Nagareddy Narendra<br />
Kumar Reddy may have<br />
been dubbed ‘Dr Death’<br />
for allegedly prescribing<br />
overdose of benzodiazepines<br />
to his patients in USA, but<br />
back home several anti-depressant<br />
drugs are easily<br />
available off the shelf.<br />
Senior psychiatrists<br />
point out that benzodiazepines,<br />
which are prescribed<br />
for depression, sleeplessness,<br />
schizophrenia and<br />
other mental health conditions,<br />
are largely abused by<br />
unscrupulous elements in<br />
AP and Telangana. As these<br />
drugs are freely available despite<br />
stringent prescription<br />
norms, many patients end<br />
up consuming higher doses<br />
leading to addiction. There<br />
have been several instances<br />
of people popping up an<br />
overdose of benzodiazepines<br />
to commit suicide.<br />
Dr Narendra, who graduated<br />
from Kurnool Medical<br />
College in 1981, has been<br />
charged with prescribing<br />
an overdose of opiates and<br />
benzodiazepines. Though<br />
the drug control authorities<br />
in AP and Telangana<br />
succeeded in restricting<br />
the availability of opiates<br />
to the general public, they<br />
could not restrict the sale of<br />
benzodiazepines.<br />
“Opiates should be<br />
prescribed only by cancer<br />
specialists. Psychiatrists are<br />
barred from giving opiates to<br />
their patients. A prescription<br />
for benzodiazepines is valid<br />
only for the number of days<br />
a psychiatrist recommends<br />
the drug use. For instance,<br />
if a psychiatrist prescribes<br />
an anti-depressant drug for<br />
14 days, the prescription<br />
expires once the medicine<br />
is issued to the patient or on<br />
the 15th day, whichever is<br />
earlier. The same prescription<br />
cannot be used to buy<br />
medicines again.The patient<br />
needs to bring a new prescription<br />
next time. But this<br />
rule is not followed properly<br />
,” says psychiatrist Dr Minhaz<br />
Nasirabadi.Psychiatrists<br />
caution that benzodiazepines<br />
and other anti-depressants<br />
should not be used for<br />
a long time as they cause<br />
physical and psychological<br />
dependence. If the drug is<br />
stopped abruptly, it leads<br />
to what is called withdrawal<br />
symptoms, which are<br />
difficult to manage.<br />
The Maharashtra<br />
government recently introduced<br />
a system to curb<br />
repeat sale of anti-depressants<br />
to people.<br />
treated many young patients who developed depression after<br />
the uprisings.<br />
“Young men have a continuous fear of getting arrested<br />
again,” he said, adding that long-term incarceration has been<br />
linked to post-traumatic stress disorder. “We have younger people<br />
coming to seek help. We have an epidemic of mental health<br />
problems, particularly depression.” Hussain then compared the<br />
way cholera used to hit Kashmir every year to the way depression<br />
now affects the region.<br />
In 2009, a study on the relationship between conflict and<br />
depression in Kashmir found that the prevalence of depression<br />
in the region is over 55 percent.<br />
The decline in psychological health has led to an increase<br />
in substance use and suicide in Kashmir. Over the years, the<br />
number of patients seeking help at the Srinagar facility, the<br />
only psychiatric hospital in the region, has increased rapidly. According<br />
to doctors, around 1,700 patients visited the hospital in<br />
1989, compared to more than 100,000 last year. Private clinics<br />
and district hospital centers have also opened to accommodate<br />
patients.<br />
In 2009, a study on the relationship between conflict and<br />
depression in Kashmir commissioned by the Sher-e-Kashmir<br />
Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar found that the prevalence<br />
of depression in the region is over 55 percent. Moreover,<br />
it found that people in rural areas, women and young people<br />
were particularly affected.<br />
There are many causes of mental illness, Hussain says, but<br />
ongoing political conflict is a major one. “It was thought to be an<br />
illness of middle-aged people but now large numbers of people<br />
are between 18 and 35 years old.”<br />
Mental illness carries a social stigma in Kashmir, and researchers<br />
say it has not been easy for young people to see<br />
psychiatrists. According to Hussain, there are many people in<br />
Kashmir in need of mental health services who have never been<br />
treated. “In our society, people don’t talk about depression. They<br />
don’t detect depression. People never go to psychiatrists.”<br />
The lack of awareness has likely resulted in fewer medical<br />
consultations, though government and community organizations,<br />
such as Action Aid India in Kashmir, have held campaigns<br />
to promote mental health treatment. Since 2003, Action Aid India<br />
has worked in roughly 100 villages a year, distributing pamphlets,<br />
conducting workshops and organizing medical camps.<br />
To reduce stigma around mental health problems, Action<br />
Aid India also started a campaign in which they write descriptions<br />
of the symptoms of the depression on public walls. In the<br />
village of Lelhar 19 miles south of Srinagar, a painter was at<br />
work on a large banner that would read, “Symptoms of depression<br />
include sadness, anger, excessive sweating, sleeplessness,<br />
nightmares, loss of interest and low appetite.”<br />
Beyond awareness, there are other problems. Project manager<br />
Tanveer Ahmad Dar says mental health issues are often<br />
chronic and require continuous follow-ups. This, he says, can be<br />
expensive: “Costs incurred in treatment are very high.”<br />
Zeba lives in Lelhar in a mall mud-brick house. Last August,<br />
her 22-year-old son, Lateef was shot several times in the lower<br />
back during a protest. One bullet was removed and another<br />
is still lodged in his spine. He is now unable to work, and his<br />
mother has also suffered as a result of his injury.<br />
“I have depression and can’t sleep,” says Zeba, who describes<br />
her typical mood as agitated, restless, hyperconscious and worried.<br />
Each day she smokes around four and a half pounds of dry<br />
tobacco for relief. A few weeks ago, she burned all her medical<br />
prescriptions.<br />
Since the uprisings, Hussain, the psychiatrist in Srinagar,<br />
has treated many families like Zeba’s. “Families are drifting because<br />
of mental illness,” he said, adding that rising anger has<br />
been an “indirect effect” of these dynamics.<br />
As the political conflict continues, the need for mental<br />
health services will as well. In Kashmir, Dar says, recurring traumatic<br />
events keep people trapped in a cycle. Until the environment<br />
changes, he says, the “mental health situation in Kashmir will not improve.<br />
With one person, the whole family is affected.” (Al-Jazeera)<br />
Delhi........<br />
for severely damaged Kacha house and Rs 20,000 for partially<br />
damaged Pucca house and Rs 10,000 for partially damaged Kacha<br />
house. In this way, the assistance under all the three categories<br />
of damaged houses would be much more than the same<br />
provided earlier,” the report said.<br />
NC........<br />
PDP has said Mehbooba is in the process of reviewing the implementation<br />
of the 'Agenda of Alliance' during the 10-monthrule<br />
of PDP-BJP government headed by her father and a decision<br />
would be taken in due course. PDP has said it was "highly<br />
unlikely" that it would form the next government with BJP till<br />
"we receive concrete assurances on key issues flagged by our<br />
party leader Naeem Akhtar last week".
7<br />
SRINAGAR, THURSDAY<br />
<strong>21</strong>.01.<strong>2016</strong><br />
S<br />
P<br />
O<br />
R<br />
T<br />
S<br />
HIL: Warriors<br />
get off to<br />
winning start<br />
CHANDIGARH: Australian<br />
striker Jake Whetton<br />
powered Punjab Warriors<br />
past defending champions<br />
Ranchi Rays 2-0 in<br />
their opening game of the<br />
Hockey India League, here<br />
at the Sector 42 Hockey<br />
Stadium on Tuesday. The<br />
win was sweet revenge<br />
for the Warriors, who had<br />
lost to the same opponents<br />
in the final of the<br />
2015 edition.<br />
The Warriors were aggressive<br />
from the outset<br />
and made most of a quick<br />
counter-attack. Sardar<br />
Singh was the lynchpin of<br />
the offensive move and<br />
Whetton the finisher. In<br />
the second minute of the<br />
match that Sardar took<br />
The trio of centre-half<br />
Sardar,<br />
striker Whetton<br />
and halfback SV<br />
Sunil combined<br />
well and were a<br />
constant threat<br />
for Rays as it<br />
seemed that the<br />
Punjab team<br />
would increase<br />
their advantage<br />
any time soon.<br />
control of a loose ball on<br />
the right, and weaved<br />
past a couple of defenders,<br />
before sending a<br />
through ball to an alert<br />
Whetton for an opportunistic<br />
strike. The Aussie<br />
dodged an on-rushing<br />
Rays goalkeeper Tyler<br />
Lovell and slotted home<br />
with a grasping drive.<br />
To encourage more<br />
field goals and attacking<br />
hockey, one field goal is<br />
counted as two in this<br />
edition of the HIL. So the<br />
Whetton strike meant<br />
the Warriors were up<br />
2-0 pretty early in the<br />
contest.<br />
The trio of centre-half<br />
Sardar, striker Whetton<br />
and halfback SV Sunil<br />
combined well and were<br />
a constant threat for Rays<br />
as it seemed that the Punjab<br />
team would increase<br />
their advantage any time<br />
soon.<br />
Rays too had their<br />
share of chances but<br />
made a meal of most of<br />
them. Last year’s highest<br />
goal-scorer Ashley<br />
Jackson shot one wide<br />
past the goalpost when<br />
he had the goalkeeper at<br />
his mercy, just before the<br />
half-time.<br />
After the match,<br />
Jake Whetton - the lone<br />
goalscorer of the contest<br />
- applauded the defensive<br />
performance of his team.<br />
“It was good that Sardar<br />
provided the ball in time<br />
(to me) and I was there<br />
at the right place for the<br />
goal,” Whetton reflected.<br />
4th ODI: India implode after Dhawan, Kohli tons<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• India have relinquished their No. 2 spot in<br />
ODI rankings<br />
• In one of their most dramatic collapses,<br />
India lost nine wickets for 46 runs<br />
• Kane Richardson was named Man of the<br />
Match for his career-best 5 for 68<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• Rafael Nadal comes close to Federer’s tally<br />
with 14 Grand Slam trophies.<br />
• It was one of the worst ever Grand Slam performances<br />
for Nadal and has not won a major<br />
title since the 2014 French Open.<br />
• Djokovic, 28, stands tall in Federer’s quest to<br />
win his 18th major title.<br />
Roger Federer is a record 17-time Grand Slam<br />
winner, a fact that tennis fans across the globe<br />
won’t need to be reminded of. Equally, it will<br />
be well known that Federer hasn’t added to<br />
his tally since 2012. Whether or not the Swiss<br />
genius is able to win an 18th title at the age of<br />
34 remains to be seen, but at the moment his<br />
chances look good.<br />
The World No. 5 Rafael Nadal comes close<br />
to Federer’s tally with 14 Grand Slam trophies<br />
CANBERRA: For the third time in the series,<br />
the team batting first scored a total in excess<br />
of 300. But for the first time, it was India<br />
chasing the runs, and as it turned out, they<br />
couldn’t do it. Powered by centuries from Virat<br />
Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, India seemed<br />
to be on course to register their first win over<br />
Australia in seven matches, but all that was<br />
to change courtesy one of their most dramatic<br />
collapses in recent memory.<br />
Chasing a daunting 349, India did the initial<br />
bit well. Kohli raced to his second century of<br />
the series, and he and Dhawan were involved<br />
in a massive <strong>21</strong>2-run stand that threw the<br />
inexperienced Australian bowling off-guard.<br />
But from there unfolded a collapse, which saw<br />
India lost nine wickets for 46 runs.<br />
In the end, Australia’s lion-hearted effort<br />
prevailed and India had to relinquish not just<br />
the match, but also their No. 2 ODI ranking.<br />
From 277/1, Australia bowled them out for 323<br />
and script one of their most memorable wins.<br />
Leading the collapse was Kane Richardson,<br />
who finished with his career-best figures of<br />
5/68. For those familiar with India’s long list<br />
of abroad collapses, this one probably stands<br />
in the top five. For a moment, it all seemed too<br />
easy. But Australia ensured they made India<br />
work for every single run. The effort paid off,<br />
and the hosts made it 4-0 rather comprehensively<br />
in the end.<br />
Aaron Finch’s century and a late blitz from<br />
Glenn Maxwell helped Australia post the highest<br />
total of the series. India were aware that<br />
they could be without Ajinkya Rahane, who<br />
required four stitches on his right hand after<br />
injuring himself while fielding. Out walked<br />
Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, and they laid waste<br />
to Steven Smith’s move of having Nathan Lyon<br />
open the bowling for Australia as he went for<br />
23 in his first two overs.<br />
Chasing 349 meant that India were needed to<br />
put up their best start in a long time. The last<br />
time they chased a big total was against South<br />
Africa in Mumbai. There, Rohit perished early<br />
and it opened the floodgates. Here though,<br />
Rohit and Shikhar got rid of their inhibitions as<br />
India motored along. They posted India’s first<br />
50-plus stand for the opening wicket after 10<br />
innings.<br />
Rohit’s timing was clinical and his pulls,<br />
exquisite. He looked on course for a third<br />
century of this series, before he gloved one<br />
to the wicketkeeper down the leg side off<br />
Richardson. The over had already fetched India<br />
16 runs - Rohit caressing two sixes and a four<br />
- and at the other end was Shikhar, batting<br />
like a breeze. The last time India had successfully<br />
chased over 350 against Australia, he had<br />
scored 95. This time India needed more of him.<br />
Having survived a couple of half-chances early<br />
in the innings, the strokes started to unleash.<br />
His cuts and drives well-timed, and aerial shots<br />
executed with precision. His flying uppercut<br />
over point off John Hastings reminded of the<br />
World Cup match between South Africa and<br />
West Indies where a similar stroke from Rilee<br />
Rossouw etched itself in the minds of many.<br />
Kohli and James Faulkner were at it again, and<br />
he once again had the better of the allrounder<br />
with four boundaries in two overs, and a<br />
gigantic six later on. With Kohli, master of<br />
India’s chase - his average touching 63 with 14<br />
centuries batting second - looking determined<br />
as ever, India seemed assured of achieving the<br />
Kohli has same aura as<br />
Tendulkar: Brett Lee<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• Kohli notched up his second successive<br />
hundred, a 92-ball 106-run innings<br />
studded with 11 fours and a six.<br />
• “Hats off to Virat Kohli. He is a<br />
legend. He has been in terrific form,”<br />
Brett Lee said.<br />
• Kohli equalled Tendulkar’s record<br />
of most centuries while chasing - 15<br />
in all.<br />
CANBERRA: Australian pace legend<br />
Brett Lee on Wednesday heaped accolades<br />
on Virat Kohli, describing the<br />
swashbuckling Indian batsman as a<br />
legend whose aura is comparable to<br />
the iconic Sachin Tendulkar.<br />
Kohli notched up his second successive<br />
hundred, a 92-ball 106-run<br />
innings studded with 11 fours and a<br />
six, in the fourth and penultimate ODI<br />
against Australia and Lee doffed his hat<br />
to the Indian Test captain.<br />
“Hats off to Virat Kohli. He is a<br />
legend. He has been in terrific form.<br />
Where do you bowl to the great man,<br />
it is almost like Sachin Tendulkar when<br />
he used to come out to bat. He had that<br />
presence and Kohli too has that aura<br />
but his failure to surpass the quarter-finals at<br />
any of the four majors last year, coupled with<br />
his first-round loss at the Australian Open<br />
against compatriot Fernando Verdasco, casts<br />
serious doubts about the Spaniard’s ability<br />
to get near Federer’s record. It was one of<br />
the worst ever Grand Slam performances for<br />
Nadal, who also lost in the 2013 Wimbledon<br />
first round and has not won a major title since<br />
the 2014 French Open.<br />
When Federer won his last title at<br />
Wimbledon 2012 by defeating Britain’s Andy<br />
Murray, Nadal was going strong with 11<br />
titles. But since then, injuries have limited his<br />
achievements to just three titles. In the same<br />
time, the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic - owner<br />
of ten Grand Slam titles - has added five<br />
major crowns and is the obvious contender<br />
in the current circuit to either match or break<br />
target. They were touching 200 at the 25-over<br />
mark.<br />
Dhawan and Kohli matched each other shot<br />
for shot reaching their respective centuries<br />
at better than a run-a-ball. Dhawan reached<br />
3000 ODI runs before slashing to point, and<br />
<strong>2016</strong> Toyota Racing Series: Daruvala<br />
takes first Formula car win<br />
Jehan Daruvala, from Sahara<br />
Force India Academy, took his first<br />
Formula car victory in the Toyota<br />
Racing Series last weekend. He won<br />
the Lady Wigram Trophy after he<br />
won Race 3 at the Ruapuna Park<br />
circuit in New Zealand. However,<br />
the race weekend didn’t start with<br />
as many smiles for Daruvala. With<br />
a slow practice run and some<br />
electrical issues with his car, Jehan<br />
went into Qualifying 1 and managed<br />
to finish eighth. The second session<br />
was even worse as Jehan decided to<br />
stay on wet tyres on a quickly drying<br />
track. While he did manage to set<br />
the fastest time when the track was<br />
still damp, he was pushed all the way<br />
back when it dried, to finally qualify<br />
fifteenth.<br />
The first race of the weekend saw<br />
Jehan have a fairly good race as he<br />
made his way up to finish eighth.<br />
Race 2, which started on a reverse<br />
grid, saw Jehan on pole. But with<br />
around him,” Lee told ‘bcci.tv’.<br />
“...once he gets going it is very difficult<br />
to get him out. He has got aggression<br />
and control of course, the guy is in<br />
terrific form,” said the former pacer on<br />
a day when Kohli equalled Tendulkar’s<br />
record of most centuries while chasing -<br />
15 in all.India have already lost the fivematch<br />
series and Lee said Mahendra<br />
Singh Dhoni’s men need to fight back.<br />
“I think India played particularly<br />
well to score 300, two times then getting<br />
close and then getting run down<br />
by Australia.<br />
quite a horrendous start, he was<br />
pushed back eight places. Things<br />
didn’t get any better as he was<br />
rear-ended under a yellow flag that<br />
sent him further back to sixteenth.<br />
However, he did manage to get to<br />
thirteenth before the chequered flag.<br />
Race 3 started under damp conditions,<br />
with all the drivers on slicks.<br />
By the time Jehan gained a few positions,<br />
the drizzle had gotten worse,<br />
and his team mate Pedro Piquet<br />
pitted to swap his slicks for wet tyres.<br />
Seeing Piquet’s lap times improve,<br />
the team called Jehan in for a tyre<br />
swap as well. By the time he was<br />
Dhoni takes responsibility<br />
for failed chase<br />
HIGHLIGHTS<br />
• Chasing 349, India were sailing along at 277/1<br />
before they lost nine wickets for 46 runs.<br />
• "I'm disappointed. This was one game we should<br />
have batted much better. I'll take responsibility,"<br />
Dhoni said.<br />
• Steven Smith gave full credit to Kane Richardson<br />
and his team's never-say-die attitude.<br />
CANBERRA: Taking full responsibility for the inexplicable<br />
collapse against Australia in the fourth<br />
cricket ODI, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni<br />
said he should have steered the team home after<br />
fluent centuries from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat<br />
Kohli.Chasing 349 for a win at the Manuka Oval,<br />
the visitors were sailing along at 277 for one before<br />
they lost nine wickets for 46 runs to nosedive to 323<br />
all out in 49.2 overs.<br />
Losing the match by 25 runs, India trail the<br />
five-match series 0-4 and Dhoni was expectedly<br />
disappointed."I am not angry, I'm disappointed. This<br />
was one game we should have batted much better.<br />
I'll take responsibility, I should have carried on but<br />
I got out...There was a bit of pressure on the youngsters.<br />
International cricket is all about pressure, you<br />
think about the right shot. You realise you have to<br />
take a bit more time and take the game slightly to<br />
the end," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.<br />
out of the pit lane, race leader Lando<br />
Norris had lapped him. With wet<br />
tyres on, Jehan was back in the game,<br />
as he first got past Norris and then<br />
continued to overtake the others.<br />
Jehan Daruvala Toyota Formula Racing<br />
Series (1)<br />
Jehan’s chance to shine came when<br />
the Safety Car was deployed and all<br />
the drivers were bunched up. As the<br />
Safety Car went back into the pit<br />
lane, Jehan immediately got back to<br />
business as he made his way up from<br />
seventh to first within a lap. The race<br />
was stopped when the Safety Car<br />
was sent out again, with Jehan in first<br />
place.<br />
“My first two races were not ideal.<br />
Race 3 was really enjoyable. I really<br />
have to thank the team for making<br />
the right decision of putting me<br />
onto wet tyres at the right time. The<br />
Safety Car helped me close in the<br />
gap and from then on I just had to<br />
make sure I made no mistake.<br />
it was from there that India disintegrated. MS<br />
Dhoni perished after balls to a faint nick to<br />
the keeper, followed by the wicket of Kohli<br />
two overs later. The pressure mounting was<br />
too much for the inexperienced Rishi Dhawan<br />
and Gurkeerat Mann.<br />
Djokovic given third set fright<br />
by French wildcard<br />
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic stretches to hit a<br />
shot during his second round match against<br />
France’s Quentin Halys at the Australian<br />
Open tennis tournament at Melbourne<br />
Park, Australia on Wednesday.<br />
Reuters Serbia’s Novak Djokovic<br />
stretches to hit a shot during his<br />
second round match against France’s<br />
Quentin Halys at the Australian Open<br />
tennis tournament at Melbourne Park,<br />
Australia on Wednesday.<br />
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra<br />
Kvitova was sent tumbling out of the<br />
Australian Open in the second round<br />
by Daria Gavrilova.<br />
World number one Novak Djokovic<br />
gave French teenager Quentin Halys<br />
a free tennis lesson for about an hour<br />
before the wildcard showed how much<br />
he had learnt in the Serb’s 6-1 6-2<br />
7-6(3) Australian Open second round<br />
win on Wednesday.<br />
Djokovic was at his clinically efficient<br />
best in the first two sets as<br />
he looked to be tactically three shots<br />
ahead of Halys and he opened up space<br />
on court at will while he romped to a<br />
2-0 lead inside an hour.<br />
The 19-year-old wildcard, ranked<br />
167th in the world, then fought back in<br />
the third set, breaking the Serb for the<br />
Dhawan (126) and Kohli (106) stitched together<br />
a <strong>21</strong>2-run second-wicket stand to put the hosts on<br />
the backfoot before Kane Richardson's five-wicket<br />
haul flattened the Indian chase. Dhoni not only<br />
praised the batting duo, but also defended the<br />
inexperienced Indian bowling attack.<br />
"Rohit batted very well with Shikhar. And Dhawan<br />
and Kohli batted majestically. In the last five<br />
years, we have not had a fixed bowling line-up other<br />
than the spinners. That pushes us to the extreme to<br />
get some extra runs," said Dhoni.<br />
On a roll, Australia skipper Steven Smith not<br />
only praised the effort of Dhawan and Kohli, but<br />
also gave full credit to Richardson and his team's<br />
never-say-die attitude.<br />
India news <strong>January</strong> 20,<br />
<strong>2016</strong> India and Sri Lanka<br />
to play T20 series in<br />
February<br />
India and Sri Lanka are set<br />
to play a three-match T20<br />
series, prior to the Asia<br />
Cup, as both teams look<br />
ahead to the World T20.<br />
The tour begins in Pune<br />
on Feburary 9, then the<br />
teams head to Delhi to<br />
play the second match on<br />
February 12 and the final<br />
first time and putting him under pressure<br />
before Djokovic ran away with the<br />
tie-break.<br />
Djokovic, who is aiming for a<br />
record-equalling sixth Australian Open<br />
title, will next face either Italy’s Andreas<br />
Seppi or American Denis Kudla<br />
in the third round.<br />
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra<br />
Kvitova was sent tumbling out of the<br />
Australian Open in the second round<br />
by Daria Gavrilova, stunned 6-4 6-4 by<br />
the <strong>21</strong>-year-old local.<br />
The Czech sixth seed, a semifinalist<br />
at Melbourne Park four years<br />
ago, made 35 unforced errors and was<br />
broken five times in the 89-minute<br />
contest, to the delight of the partisan<br />
crowd on Margaret Court Arena.<br />
Kvitova rallied to save a match<br />
point and break back for 5-4 in the<br />
final set but Gavrilova claimed the<br />
victory when the world number seven<br />
went long with a forehand in the next<br />
game.<br />
Moscow-born Gavrilova, who<br />
paired up with Nick Kyrgios to win the<br />
Hopman Cup for Australia at the start of<br />
the year, will play France’s Kristina Mladenovic<br />
in her first trip to the third round<br />
at a grand slam.<br />
T20 will take place in<br />
Visakhapatnam on February<br />
14. These matches<br />
will be the first time the<br />
two sides face each other<br />
in the shortest format<br />
since the final of the 2014<br />
World Twenty20, which<br />
Sri Lanka won in April<br />
2014.<br />
With another early Nadal exit, Federer’s record looks safe<br />
Federer’s record.<br />
Nadal reacts as he leaves after losing his<br />
first round match. (Reuters Photo)<br />
The Serb is in sublime form and capped<br />
off one of the best seasons in the sport in the<br />
past few years with 11 titles, including three<br />
of the four Grand Slams and a fifth ATP World<br />
Tour Finals Trophy. However, completing a career<br />
Slam is still a distant dream for Djokovic,<br />
who failed to emerge victorious at Roland<br />
Garros in his three final appearances.<br />
“Roland Garros is always one of the biggest<br />
challenges I have every year, but it’s not<br />
the only one. There are the Olympic Games<br />
that are happening every four years,” Djokovic<br />
said after winning the ATP Tour title. “I will<br />
try to do as well as I’ve done in the last couple<br />
of years, always peak at the right moments<br />
and always try to perform my best at the biggest<br />
events.”<br />
Federer is himself coming off a fine 2015.<br />
He might not have won a Grand Slam last<br />
year but he wowed his fans with some quality<br />
tennis. The way he made it to the Wimbledon<br />
final after dispatching Murray in the semifinals<br />
gave people a chance to envision an<br />
upset win over Djokovic, but it was not to be.<br />
After that, Federer defeated Djokovic in the<br />
Cincinnati Masters final for a record seventh<br />
title.Djokovic, 28, stands tall in Federer’s<br />
quest to win his 18th major title and they are<br />
well on course to lock horns in the Australian<br />
Open semi-finals unless an upset happens.<br />
Federer, who advanced into the third round<br />
today after seeing off Alexandr Dolgopolov,<br />
is wary of the upset he suffered last year at<br />
the hands of Italy’s Andreas Seppi in the third<br />
round at Melbourne Park.