Defunct due to non-seriousness

25/06/2018
While the nine megawatt SewaIIIrd Project is defunct due to non-seriousness of the State Government for last six years after a portion of its canal was washed away by flash floods of Ravi river in the year 2012, the much talked about 93 mw New GanderbalHydel Project though conceived over four decades back has failed to see the light of the day. Non-seriousness of the State Government has failed to restore the Sewa Power Project III and construct the Ganderbal New Power Project in Kashmir valley...

WILL NEPAL CHOOSE INDIA OVER CHINA?

25/06/2018
The mood of optimism in Nepal is palpable. The grand old party, Nepali Congress has been severely marginalised after its election debacle. The Leftists/ Communists are in an unassailable majority at local, provincial and federal tiers which is unprecedented in terms of political superiority and stability. With India and China both welcoming this development, it was difficult to locate anyone but the intrepid pessimist to predict any man-made adverse contingency. Goodbye to uncertainty and insta...

Mushrooming growth of private Ambulances

24/06/2018
A well-knit nexus of some reputed private hospitals from outside the State and local agents here, is operating in GMC&H, which is fleecing patients and their attendants for shifting their cases outside, while in violation of the orders of Transport Commissioner J&K, many private Ambulances are operating illegally without obtaining NOC from the Director Health Services. A mafia, being run by some middlemen/ agents of some reputed as well as other private hospitals, is apparently controlling t...

DAREDEVIL SUMMITRY IN SINGAPORE

24/06/2018
It is the season of summitry in the present day international system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinging in Wuhan and US President Donald Trump met the European counterparts as part of the G-20 where in the rest intended to stem the tide of rising America First doctrine along with the pricey protectionism which has been rebooted by the adventurous American President. Summitry or not, antagonism and prevarications might mar another set of negotiations which are very c...

Serious note taken NITI Aayog

23/06/2018
As the entire country is facing the worst water crisis in its history and millions of lives and livelihoods are under threat and the situation is going to turn worse in the coming years, the National Institute for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog felt it imperative to put in place timely interventions to make water use efficient and sustainable in the length and breadth of the country. Accordingly, an exercise was set into motion for development of Composite Water Management Index (CWMI) to enab...

IN THE THROES OF A WATER CRISIS

23/06/2018
For long, falling water tables in the time of extreme weather conditions have featured in the context of human settlements along our great riverine plains. But seldom do we focus on depleting flows and springs in the Himalayas, often considered to be the water towers of the world but which are fast losing their appeal as our best environmental insurance next to the polar ice caps. If the unprecedented water crisis in Shimla proved anything, it was that glacial retreat and the drying up of Himal...

For the 8th time

21/06/2018
Jammu and Kashmir was placed under the Governor's Rule on Wednesday following President Ram NathKovind's approval. Governor, N.N. Vohra sought Kovind's approval on Tuesday after the BharatiyaJanata Party's (BJP) decision to pull out of the Peoples Democratic Party (pdp)-led state government which was immediately followed by the resignation of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Vohra's recommendations for imposition of the Governor's Rule were made under the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Const...

INDIA LAGS BEHIND IN PROTECTING ITS NEWBORNS

21/06/2018
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The SDGs provide guidelines and targets for all countries to adopt in accordance with their own priorities. The SDG 3 clearly states “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” The target within SDG 3 on neonatal mortality further states “By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years o...

Compensation for WP refugees

20/06/2018
This is for the first time since about 70 years of settlement of West Pakistani refugees here that they were being paid compensation by the Government though their major demand for permanent citizenship rights in the State hasn't been conceded by the Government so far. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) few days back formally approved financial assistance amounting to Rs 5.5 lakh per family to 5764 families of West Pakistani refugees settled in Jammu and Kashmir. With this, third major an...

Entrusting departmental enquiries

19/06/2018
Almost all the departments have been flouting repeated Government directions on entrusting departmental enquiries to the Commission of Enquiries (CoE) and still preferring in-house probes, which are largely resulting into exoneration of the erring officers and officials.Shockingly, the General Administration Department (GAD), which is the author of such directions and instructions, has also rendered the Commission of Enquiries defunct by neither providing full time Commissioner nor adequate man...