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Focusing on opportunities and challenges”

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AAAM Degree College Bemina holds one-day programme on “Disaster resilience: Focusing on opportunities and challenges”

Srinagar, Oct 17: The Department of Environmental Science, Disaster Risk Reduction Club (DRRC), NCC and NSS Units of AAAM Degree College, Bemina, Srinagar in collaboration with IQAC and RedR India, organised a one-day programme on “Disaster Resilience: Focusing on Opportunities and Challenges” at the College Auditorium.

As per a press release, the event aimed to enhance understanding of disaster preparedness, mitigation and community resilience, particularly in view of the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters worldwide. The programme highlighted the need to develop sustainable strategies for risk reduction and to strengthen both institutional and community-level preparedness.

The Principal of the College Prof. (Dr.) Mudasir Afshan, in her inaugural address, emphasized the importance of building disaster-resilient communities through education, awareness and active youth participation.

In his address,Chief Guest of the event, the Vice Chancellor Cluster University Srinagar Prof. (Dr.) Mohammad Mobinappreciated the initiative of the college and underlined the relevance of resilience-building programmes in higher education institutions. He encouraged students to undergo training that enables them to serve as volunteers and first responders in times of crisis.

The Registrar,Cluster University Srinagar Prof. (Dr.) Syed Wilayat Hussain Rizvi in his remarks, shared valuable experiences from past disasters such as floods, earthquakes and evacuation operations, stressing the importance of preparedness and coordination in disaster response.

The lead lecture by Er. Aamir Ali Member RedR India and former Director Disaster Management, Kashmirprovided an overview of the role of RedR India in disaster management and capacity building across the country. He emphasised that students should be trained so that they can act as volunteers and helpful to the society.

A technical session and training programme was conducted by the Civil Defence team of personnel focused on identifying local vulnerabilities, best practices in disaster preparedness, and innovative approaches for risk mitigation. A training session on CPR was conducted by Dr. Syed Anayat Hussain, PTI of AAAM Degree College Bemina Srinagar. Students and volunteers from DRR, NCC and NSS took active part in the hands-on training and discussions, highlighting the significance of proactive measures and informed decision-making during emergencies.

The Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, on this occasion, presented the “Gold” Accredited Certificate to the Principal of the College in recognition of the institution’s recent accreditation by Climate Reality Project India.

This One-Day Programme marked a significant milestone as the first such event organised by AAAM Degree College, Bemina, Srinagar which has also taken the lead in establishing a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Club within the institution.

The event concluded with a Vote of Thanks presented by Dr. Riffat Basharat, Member, DRR Club. The programme was coordinated by Dr. Musharaf Rehman, co-ordinator IQAC.

Greater Kashmir

Bomb threat to Delhi school turns out to be hoax; student sent e-mail to avoid exams: Police

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Bomb threats hit over 45 Delhi schools, spark panic among students and parents

New Delhi, Oct 17: A bomb threat e-mail sent to a private school in outer Delhi turned out to be a hoax, with police tracing the sender to a student who wanted to avoid exams, officials said on Friday.

According to police, a PCR call was received at the Paschim Vihar East Police Station on Thursday after the principal of Vishal Bharti Public School reported receiving an e-mail claiming a bomb had been planted on the premises.

“Multiple teams reached the school and activated standard bomb threat protocols. The building was evacuated, and teams from the Bomb Disposal Squad, Dog Squad, and Fire Department were called in to carry out thorough checks,” a senior police officer said.

He said that after no suspicious object was found during the search, the threat was declared a hoax.

A case was registered, and during the investigation, the cyber team traced the origin of the e-mail to a juvenile.

“The juvenile was apprehended and during questioning, he admitted to sending the threatening mail because he was afraid of exams and wanted the school to declare a holiday,” the officer added.

Greater Kashmir

US Chamber of Commerce sues Trump administration over H-1B visas

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US again clarifies Trump's H-1B proclamation, says existing visa holders not impacted

Washington, Oct 17: The US Chamber of Commerce, the country’s biggest business organisation, has sued the Trump administration over the $100,000 H-1B visa application fee, calling it “unlawful”.

In a lawsuit filed in a district court in Washington on Thursday, the plaintiff argued that the visa fee, if implemented, would “inflict significant harm on American businesses” and force them to “either dramatically increase their labour costs or hire fewer highly skilled employees for whom domestic replacements are not readily available.”

It added that Trump’s September 19 proclamation is “plainly unlawful” and a “boon to America’s economic rivals”.

“The Proclamation is not only misguided policy; it is plainly unlawful. The President has significant authority over the entry of noncitizens into the United States. Still, that authority is bounded by statute and cannot directly contradict laws passed by Congress,” it added.

Neil Bradley, Executive Vice President of the US Chamber of Commerce, issued a statement saying that the visa fee would make it “cost-prohibitive for US employers” to “access the global talent” and the US economy would “require more workers, not fewer”.

The Chamber represents approximately 3,00,000 direct members and indirectly represents the interests of more than three million companies and professional organisations in the United States.

It’s the second major domestic legal challenge to new H-1B rules, after a group of unions, education professionals and religious bodies sued the Trump administration on October 3.

In a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California, the plaintiffs had argued that Trump’s proclamation was riddled with “multiple errors” and “ignores the benefits of the H-1B visa programme to the American economy.”

The case also highlighted that the $100,000 visa application fee was “unprecedented, unjustified and unlawful”.

The plaintiff included many immigration and advocacy groups, including the Justice Action Center, South Asian American Justice Collaborative, and Democracy Forward Foundation.

While signing the proclamation in September, Trump had said the “incentive is to hire American workers”.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had also defended the move, saying the policy would discourage companies from hiring foreign workers.

“So, the whole idea is, no more will these big tech companies or other big companies train foreign workers. They have to pay the government $100,000, then they have to pay the employee. So, it’s just not economic. You’re going to train somebody. You’re going to train one of the recent graduates from one of the great universities across our land, train Americans. Stop bringing in people to take our jobs. That’s the policy here. $100,000 a year for H-1B visas,” he explained.

The proclamation caused immense confusion as it seemed to suggest that it would impact the current H-1B visa holders, who may face hurdles in returning to the United States.

The White House issued a clarification on September 20, saying that this is a “one-time fee” that applies only to new visas and not renewals or current visa holders.

Days later, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also proposed to “amend its regulations” governing the H-1B visa process.

The DHS plan sought to scrap the existing lottery system and implement a weighted selection process that it says would favour the allocation of H-1B visas to higher-skilled workers.

India-born workers received over 70 per cent of the total approved H1-B visas in 2024, primarily due to a huge backlog in approvals and a high number of skilled immigrants from India.

Greater Kashmir

LG Manoj Sinha on Russia visit to bring back Gautam Buddha’s relics

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LG Manoj Sinha on Russia visit to bring back Gautam Buddha’s relics

Srinagar, Oct 17: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha early Friday morning set off for Kalmykia, Russia, where he will lead a delegation to bring back the holy relics of Gautam Buddha after a week-long exposition.

LG Sinha expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for assigning him with “this sacred opportunity.”

In a post on X, the Office of LG J&K wrote, “Leaving for Kalmykia, Russia, where I will lead the delegation to bring back holy relics of Lord Buddha after a week-long exposition. I sincerely thank the Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi Ji for this sacred opportunity.”

Greater Kashmir

Trump warns Hamas ‘we will have no choice but to go in and kill them’ if bloodshed persists in Gaza

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Trump tells BBC he is 'disappointed but not done' with Putin, backs NATO and UK ties

Washington, Oct 17: US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned Hamas “we will have no choice but to go in and kill them” if internal bloodshed persists in Gaza.

The grim warning from Trump came after he previously downplayed the internal violence in the territory since a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect last week in the two-year war.

Trump later clarified he will not send US troops into Gaza after launching the threat against Hamas.

“It’s not going to be us,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters. “We won’t have to. There are people very close, very nearby that will go in and they’ll do the trick very easily, but under our auspices.”

Trump said on Tuesday that Hamas had taken out “a couple of gangs that were very bad” and had killed a number of gang members. “That didn’t bother me much, to be honest with you,” he said.

The Republican president did not say how he would follow through on his threat posted on his Truth Social platform, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking clarity.

But Trump also made clear he had limited patience for the killings that Hamas was carrying out against rival factions inside the devastated territory.

“They will disarm, and if they don’t do so, we will disarm them, and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” Trump said.

The Hamas-run police maintained a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza 18 years ago, while also cracking down on dissent. They largely melted away in recent months as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.

Powerful local families and armed gangs, including some anti-Hamas factions backed by Israel, stepped into the void. Many are accused of hijacking humanitarian aid and selling it for profit, contributing to Gaza’s starvation crisis.

The ceasefire plan introduced by Trump had called for all hostages — living and dead — to be handed over by a deadline that expired on Monday. But under the deal, if that did not happen, Hamas was to share information about deceased hostages and try to hand them over as soon as possible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel “will not compromise” and demanded that Hamas fulfil the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal about the return of hostages’ bodies.

Hamas’ armed wing said in a statement on Wednesday that the group honoured the ceasefire’s terms and handed over the remains of the hostages it had access to.

The United States announced last week that it is sending about 200 troops to Israel to help support and monitor the ceasefire deal in Gaza as part of a team that includes partner nations and nongovernmental organisations. But US officials have stressed that US forces would not set foot in Gaza.

Israeli officials have also been angered by the pace of the return of the remains of dead hostages the militant group had been holding in captivity. Hamas had agreed to return 28 bodies as part of the ceasefire deal in addition to 20 living hostages, who were released earlier this week.

Hamas has assured the US through intermediaries that it is working to return dead hostages, according to two senior US advisers. The advisers, who were not authorised to comment publicly and briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said they do not believe Hamas has violated the deal.

Greater Kashmir

Full-Darbar Move restoration file approved, order soon: CM

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'Injustice with people of J&K': Omar Abdullah on denial of statehood

Jammu, Oct 16: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, on Thursday, announced that the file related to the resumption of full Darbar Move was approved by the Lieutenant Governor, and soon an order would be issued.

He was addressing a press conference at the Sher-e-Kashmir Bhawan in the National Conference office in Jammu to mark the completion of one year of his government in office.

“In the first instance, why was this pre-47, historically significant practice stopped? They (BJP) taunt us that we don’t understand the history of this region and we don’t respect those great luminaries of J&K. Ironically, the BJP has played the biggest role in ravaging that glorious legacy,” CM Omar stated, targeting the BJP.

The Chief Minister said that his party (NC) had made a promise to the J&K people to restore this practice.

“The cabinet approved the decision to restore it (Darbar Move). That file for approval was sent to the Lieutenant Governor, who signed it and sent it back. I’ve signed the file for the resumption of the full Darbar Move. I hope that this order will be issued soon, restoring the historic practice,” he announced.

When his attention was drawn to his past statement criticising the Darbar move practice, the Chief Minister remarked that his remarks (in the past) were not a sovereign commitment.

“That was an idea which I shared. Right now, we have delivered what we committed to in our manifesto. It should be commended that we fulfilled our promise. In case, in future, it requires some changes, they will be considered,” he asserted.

“What is important is to notice that Jammu was marginalised by those who represented it, and its (Jammu’s) marginalisation was ended by those who were seen and projected as anti-Jammu. NC was always painted as a Kashmir-based party and not as a Jammu-Kashmir party. I hope with this restoration that propaganda will end,” he said.

 

Greater Kashmir

J&K’s roads claim more lives than anywhere in country

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J&K’s roads claim more lives than anywhere in country

Srinagar, Oct 16: In Jammu and Kashmir, roads turn into obituaries.

Behind the postcard views of the region’s highways lies a landscape of loss, of beauty and danger travelling side by side, where mountains claim more lives than they connect.

Every curve on the road hides stories of speed, loss, and neglect.

The design flaws hidden in every bend also carry fear of death among the families, drivers, and rescuers.

The Srinagar-Jammu National Highway (NH-44), the romanticised gateway to paradise, has proven to be a hellish road with its deadly mix of heavy traffic, unreliable road conditions, landslides, and human error.

The 270-km stretch is the major link to Kashmir, and together with other link roads along its course, is a major contributor to the staggering deaths due to road traffic accidents in J&K.

The Road Traffic Accident (RTA) mortality rate in J&K is 16.6 deaths per 1 lakh population.

It starkly exceeds the national average of 11 deaths per 1 lakh.

RTAs are the leading cause of Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost in J&K, outweighing other health burdens.

Between January and October 2024, J&K recorded 4990 accidents that resulted in 703 deaths and 6820 injuries, as per official data.

This trend extends into 2025.

Partial data up to June suggests continued spikes.

Given the trends, it is an estimated 6000 accidents with fatalities nearing 800.

The NH-44 is prone to fatal crashes in districts like Ramban and Udhampur.

However, the data is not separated for the highway and other roads in the districts along the highway.

In the first half of 2024, Udhampur saw 228 accidents, 47 deaths, and 314 injuries, while Ramban reported 129 accidents, 33 deaths, and 160 injuries.

In 2025, so far, the highway has seen devastating accidents.

On May 4, a crash near Battery Cheshma in Ramban claimed the lives of three Army personnel.

Last month, two policemen died in a crash at Tengan, Lasjan.

Earlier, a mother-son duo died in a collision near Tikrri, Udhampur.

This month, a cab overturned in Battal Ballian, Udhampur, leaving one dead and four injured.

Over the three quarters of 2024, districts along the highway route had horrifying stats.

Jammu district had 807 accidents, 96 deaths in the first nine months of 2024.

Anantnag had 254 accidents with 35 deaths; Srinagar recorded 362 accidents and 36 deaths.

Full-year data for Srinagar shows 57 people lost life in accidents in 2024.

Although, J&K is yet to come up with a detailed report on accident-prone spots and the causes of accidents, preliminary data suggests over-speeding is the reason for accidents 40 percent of the time.

Then comes reckless driving, and engineering flaws like single-lane sections prone to head-on collisions.

In J&K, rural areas, particularly the roads along the National Highway comprise 69 percent of accidents.

The Chenab Valley is another “silent death trap.”

The three districts, Doda, Kishtwar, and Ramban accounted for 20 percent of J&K’s road fatalities, despite having a sparse population.

From 2019 to October 2024, Chenab Valley recorded 852 deaths.

Ravine plunges are the primary type of accident along the narrow, treacherous roads.

The National Highways, including NH-244, see the maximum number of casualties.

Yet, these hardly make headlines.

Between 2019 and 2024, 4899 lives were lost on roads in J&K and 40,065 people injured.

Many of those injured ended up with lifelong disabilities.

The J&K Road Safety Policy, 2025, notified in March this year has a lofty aim to reduce accidents and fatalities by 50 percent by the year 2030.

This can be achieved through better enforcement of traffic rules, better equipped and accessible trauma centres, and infrastructure upgrades of roads.

However, policy makers believe that with 22.66 lakh vehicles, and counting, the task is daunting but not impossible.

A regular commuter on the highway, Muhammad Ishfaq, said that with winters approaching, and already dilapidated roads going to get worse, would these highways lead to heaven or hell?

“For many, the answer is tragically clear,” he said.

Greater Kashmir

Sgr–Jmu NH open with traffic restrictions

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Srinagar-Jammu NH open for one-way traffic

Ramban, Oct 16: The Srinagar–Jammu National Highway remained open on Thursday for one-way movement of heavy vehicles towards Jammu and two-way traffic for light and medium vehicles.

Traffic authorities reported slow movement in single-lane stretches at Balli Nullah, Dewal, Samroli, between Nashri and Dalwass, and between Maroog and Kishtwari Pattar. Delays were further caused by breakdowns of some heavy vehicles and on-foot movement of pedestrians between Udhampur and Banihal sectors.

Hundreds of light, medium, and heavy vehicles traversed the highway, although traffic moved at a sluggish pace. Authorities confirmed that heavy vehicles will continue to ply on alternate days between Srinagar and Jammu, while light and medium vehicles enjoy two-way movement.

Commuters have been advised to maintain lane discipline, avoid overtaking, and refrain from wrong-lane driving. In view of heavy on-foot movement of nomadic families with livestock, travellers are urged to avoid unnecessary journeys and check road conditions through Traffic Control Units or official J&K Traffic Department social media handles before departure.

 

 

Greater Kashmir

Bharti Airtel announces strategic partnership with IBM to augment Airtel Cloud

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Bharti Airtel announces strategic partnership with IBM to augment Airtel Cloud

Srinagar, Oct 16: Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers has entered into a strategic partnership with IBM to augment its recently launched Airtel Cloud.

The partnership is expected to bring together the telco-grade reliability, high security, and data residency of Airtel Cloud with IBM’s leadership in cloud solutions, and advanced infrastructure and software technologies designed for AI inferencing.

Together, Airtel and IBM will aim to enable enterprises in regulated industries to scale AI workloads more efficiently, delivering interoperability across infrastructure including on-premise, in the cloud, across multiple clouds and at the edge.

 

Greater Kashmir

Sports Minister reviews Pampore Grounds, announces upgradation plan

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Sports Minister reviews Pampore Grounds, announces upgradation plan

Srinagar, Oct 16: Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Information Technology, and Youth Services & Sports Satish Sharma, on Thursday, conducted an extensive visit to two key sports grounds at Tanchabagh and Kadalbal, Pampore, to gather a first-hand assessment of the sports facilities available and review requirements for their upgrade.

During the visit, the minister, as per an official statement, interacted with local youth, sportspersons, and representatives of sports bodies who apprised him of various issues related to sports infrastructure, availability of equipment, and organisation of regular sports activities in the area.

Responding to the demands and suggestions put forth by the locals and sports persons, Satish Sharma announced that both Tanchabagh and Kadalbal grounds will soon be equipped with mass floodlights to enable day and night matches, along with the construction of modern washrooms, changing rooms, and players’ rest areas. He assured that the Youth Services & Sports department will provide all necessary assistance to ensure these facilities are developed in a time-bound manner.

The Minister was accompanied by MLA Pampore, Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi and senior officers from the District Administration and Department of Youth Services and Sports, who briefed the Minister about the current status of sports infrastructure and ongoing initiatives in the area.

 

 

Greater Kashmir

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