U.S. has weapons deployed in orbit, Space Force says
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A five-time Emmy Award-winning actor, Michael receieved the Humanitarian honour for his Parkinsons advocacy
Houthi attack in southern Saudi Arabia wounds 13: Riyadh-led coalition
On September 14, the Militia launched attacks on civilian objects in the cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha, and Taif with several ballistic missiles and drones, says coalition spokesman
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Here is a select list of stories to start the day
U.S. lawmaker submits amendment naming India in Russia sanctions act
The Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, passed by the U.S. Senate by an overwhelming 86-11 vote last month, seeks to impose sanctions not only on Russia's leadership and energy sector but also on the shadow fleet of vessels that enable Moscow to evade sanctions on oil deliveries.
Drone shot down by NATO over Lithuania
Baltic states Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia NATO members sharing a long border with Russia regularly report drone incursions into their territories as part of Moscow's war with Ukraine.
China, Iran among countries that have used AI to aid spying, Anthropic says
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Emmy Awards 2026: Jean Smart creates history as she bags best actress award for Hacks
Jean has become the first comedy lead actor to win the award for every season of a single television series
In loss for Trump, U.S. Supreme Court won't let Postal Service restrict mail ballots
Justice Samuel Alito, joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissented from the decision, comparing some of the challengers claims to a Hail Mary pass that is unlikely to be successfully completed, using a football analogy
Pakistan mulls revival of austerity measures amid West Asia hostilities
The indication of a possible revival of austerity measures came as petrol prices rose to PKR 375.82 per litre and high-speed diesel (HSD) to PKR 403.32 per litre
Emmys 2026 Winners: Full list of Emmy Awards winners and live updates
The 2026 Emmys are here: follow the latest winners, surprises and historic moments from the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards as The Pitt, Hacks, Widows Bay and more battle for televisions biggest prizes
The Republican lawmaker is near the end of his second term representing his Houston-area district and has served as a U.S. Army officer who served as a diplomatic liaison in Saudi Arabia
U.S. Judge blocks Trump limits on duration of visas for foreign students, journalists
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Ritabrata-led TMC camp names candidates for Bengal bypolls
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El Nia effect: Will Kashmir see less snow this winter?
Srinagar, Sep 14: With winter still a few months away, uncertainty has already begun to surround Kashmirs snowfall prospects, as global climate signals point towards a potentially warmer season while weather experts caution against drawing conclusions from any single phenomenon. Director of the Meteorological Department,Srinagar, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, in an exclusive conversation with Rising Kashmir, said prevailing global climate signals, including the influence of La Nia, suggest Kashmir could experience a relatively warmer and milder winter this year. He, however, made it clear that a mild winter should not be interpreted as an absence of winter or snowfall. There may be a warmer and milder winter this year, but winter will surely arrive, the Director said, adding that the eventual snowfall pattern would depend substantially on the behaviour of western disturbances. Ahmad said Kashmir had experienced comparatively less snowfall during the past few years, and there was a possibility that the trend could continue, but stressed that snowfall remained an important component of the regions winter cycle. We have seen very little snowfall in the past few years and this year may also be the same, but snowfall is very important. We will definitely have to see how the western disturbances behave, he said. The remarks assume significance as Kashmirs winter is closely linked to western disturbances, the weather systems that travel from the Mediterranean and adjoining regions towards South Asia and are responsible for much of the Valleys winter precipitation, particularly snowfall over the higher reaches. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has stressed that climate variability and long-term warming are increasingly interacting with natural phenomena such as El Nio and La Nia, making seasonal weather outcomes more complex. The WMO, however, has not predicted that India will have no winter this year. Its climate updates provide probabilities for temperature and precipitation patterns rather than declaring the disappearance of winter in any country. The broader climate picture remains concerning for Asia. The WMO has reported that Asia is warming faster than the global average over the long term, while the region is increasingly experiencing extreme heat, intense rainfall, flooding, drought, marine heatwaves and the continued retreat of glaciers in the high mountains. Independent weather forecaster Faizan Arif, however, cautioned against directly linking Kashmirs winter weather with ENSO conditions. My point is that El Nio does not appear to have a direct or consistent impact on the weather of Jammu & Kashmir, Arif said. Arif said he had examined available data, including some of the strongest or Super El Nio events, but had not found clear evidence of a direct relationship between ENSO phases and weather patterns in Jammu and Kashmir. The data from the past decade also does not indicate any consistent trend. Precipitation has varied considerably from year to year, without following a particular pattern. Some El Nio winters have experienced higher-than-normal precipitation, while others have recorded below-normal or near-normal precipitation, he said. Arif said a similar assessment of La Nia and ENSO-neutral years also failed to establish a consistent pattern that could reliably explain precipitation or overall winter weather in the region. The fundamental reason is that the weather of Jammu & Kashmir is highly complex and is influenced by multiple large-scale atmospheric and oceanic factors. ENSO is only one component of a much larger system, he said. According to him, the region can also be influenced, directly or indirectly, by the Polar Vortex, Siberian High, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and other atmospheric circulation patterns. Each of these can contribute to the eventual weather outcome in different ways and with varying strengths, he said. The forecaster said there could be indirect influences from global climate patterns, but attributing the weather of Jammu and Kashmir to a single factor would be an oversimplification. A much more comprehensive analysis, involving multiple years of data and considering the interaction between these different atmospheric and oceanic drivers, is required before drawing any firm conclusions, he said. Simply knowing whether a particular winter will be El Nio, La Nia, or ENSO-neutral is not enough to predict the weather of J&K. ENSO alone cannot determine how the winter will unfold over the region. The contrasting assessments underline the uncertainty surrounding the coming winter. While the broader climate signal may point towards warmer conditions, Kashmirs snowfall story will ultimately depend on the frequency, intensity and trajectory of western disturbances and how they interact with the regions local atmospheric conditions.
On images showing Devajit Saikia talking to Mohsin Naqvi during the Asia Cup final, the BCCI Vice-President said it was a mere routine interaction
French power sector labour strike takes 6.5 gigawatts offline overnight
Workers and retirees in the French energy sector pay discounted rates, which their unions view as a core part of their compensation package; strike is expected to go through the day on September 15, suggesting the outages could be renewed or increased
At Chennai museum, a reminder of what Kashmirs old homes carried
Chennai, Sep 14: At DakshinaChitra, traditional houses are not reduced to pieces of old architecture. They stand reconstructed with their original features, giving visitors a sense of the spaces in which families once lived and worked. A visit by this correspondent to the heritage museum on Monday found courtyards, verandahs, wooden elements and household spaces forming part of the reconstructed houses, rather than being displayed as isolated architectural objects. For this correspondent visiting the museum, the presentation also brought into focus a form of heritage that exists far closer to home but is becoming less common: the traditional house. The change is documented both in Srinagar and in rural parts of Kashmir. The Srinagar Master Plan 2035, the notified planning document for the Srinagar Metropolitan Region prepared by the Town Planning Organisation, says the city's traditional architecture is a combination of stone, wood and brick and spans more than 15 centuries. It includes modest residential houses among the city's heritage, alongside religious structures, river ghats and timber bridges. The plan also records how Srinagar's neighbourhoods developed around occupations and clans, with mohallas growing around shrines, temples and other focal points. But, it says, the city is fast losing this character of Mohallas. The residential architecture documented in Kashmir was not uniform. It evolved around the materials available locally, the climate and the way families used their homes. A Young INTACH account of traditional village houses of Kashmir describes houses made with unburnt bricks set in wooden frames and timber from cedar, pine and fir. Pointed roofs were used to shed snow, while local stone was used for the plinth. The arrangement of the house also reflected rural life. The lower floor could be used for cattle, with the family occupying the upper floors. The documentation lists separate spaces such as the Tanab or common room, Dankuth or kitchen, Bankuth or store room, Gaan for cattle, Mandow or large room and PaechhKuth for guests. It notes that such traditional village houses are hardly seen anywhere today. It also places the shift from traditional to modern architecture in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1970s, when building patterns introduced by architects trained outside the region began to gain ground. The story is not confined to the Valley's settled villages. A 2025 documentation project on traditional construction in the Pir Panjal region recorded timber-laced stone masonry houses built with locally sourced materials and techniques passed down orally. The researchers found that these structures served multiple purposes as homes, livestock shelters and spaces for domestic crafts such as binna weaving and wool processing, particularly by women. The research is significant because it records not only what the houses looked like, but how rural households used them. The Pir Panjal study also notes that industrial construction methods and materials are becoming more dominant, putting the architectural knowledge and cultural practices associated with the older structures at risk. Kashmir's older construction systems also contained knowledge about the region's earthquake risk. Dhajji-dewari uses a timber framework with masonry infill, while the taq system incorporates timber members into masonry walls. Research on Kashmir's vernacular architecture has described these systems as knowledge that evolved in response to the region's climate, traditional lifestyles and hazards including earthquakes and floods. The Srinagar Master Plan itself recommends that dhajji-dewari and taq techniques be integrated into planning to demonstrate their advantages under local conditions. INTACH's work in Kashmir extends beyond major monuments. The organisation says its Kashmir chapter documents cultural properties and provides conservation and architectural assistance relating to heritage buildings. Its documentation of Srinagar includes individual residential properties, reflecting the recognition of houses and neighbourhoods as part of the city's built heritage. At DakshinaChitra, meanwhile, the process works in reverse. Houses that existed in their original locations are acquired, dismantled and reconstructed within the museum, with regional artisans and traditional builders involved in the work. Speaking to this correspondent, curator Lakuma Chebrolu said the museum continues to collect traditional houses and material associated with them. Families sometimes contribute more than the structure itself. Some even give all like their silk sarees, jewelleries etc., Chebrolu said. That approach has allowed DakshinaChitra to retain parts of domestic life alongside the architecture. Its houses are displayed with crafts, textiles and household objects associated with the regions they represent. The visit for this correspondent came against a documented change in the region's own built environment: the Srinagar Master Plan records the weakening of the city's traditional mohalla structure, while research into village and Pir Panjal architecture records the decline of older houses, materials and construction practices. The contrast was visible inside the museum itself: houses that had ceased to serve their original purpose elsewhere had been reconstructed here, allowing their architecture and the domestic life associated with them to be examined long after their original setting had changed.
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Govt admits Achan blot on Srinagars Swachhata drive
Srinagar, Sep 14: The government on Monday admitted that the Achan dumping site continues to cast a shadow over Srinagar's Swachhata campaign performance, identifying the long-standing waste management crisis as a major impediment to the summer capital's bid for top cleanliness rankings. Commissioner Secretary, Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD), Mandeep Kour, speaking to media persons on the sidelines of the launch of the Swachhata Internship Programme at Amar Singh College here, said that the Swachhata goal cannot be achieved unless people start keeping their homes and society clean. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking about Swachhata for ten years, but how many among us have started taking steps in this regard? Unless we start it from home, nothing can change on the ground, she said, urging people to take apt decisions and measures in this regard. She added that the Swachhata Internship Programme was first started in Jammu on a pilot basis with the aim of creating awareness among students in this regard. Talking about the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Kaur said just 3,0004,000 sanitation workers and warriors could not make the entire Srinagar, with a population of over 16 lakh people, aware about Swachhata, as it would be a difficult task for them. Therefore, the programme from the schools was aimed at creating awareness among the students to help make the society clean, she added. The Commissioner Secretary further saidthat tourists should not say that Jammu and Kashmir is very beautiful but dirty, emphasising that cleanliness was essential to complement the region's natural beauty. Asked about the rankings in the Swachhata campaign, Kour cited Achan as the main cause for the low ranking, saying that the site was the problem in Srinagar, where work has now started. The project was conceived earlier, but the waste processing was not taken up, due to which the ranking of Srinagar witnessed a decline, she said. However, she added that Srinagar, compared to other cities, is clean, as the roads and streets are clean. But the waste processing was not taken up, and thus it was an unmanageable problem which had no solutions. Now, the solution is there, and the waste processing has started to clean Achan. So, I hope Srinagar will rank in the top three in the next two years, Kour added. Meanwhile, SMC Commissioner Fazlul Haseeb, while giving details about the Internship Programme, said that under this programme, the government wants to train students regarding local segregation, bin segregation, door-to-door collection, and other things, as training students will have a large impact on society. We have started the programme on a pilot basis in 34 schools, and if it rolls out successfully, then we will increase the number of schools involved in the training, Haseeb said. He added that besides SMC, the partners in this campaign include the Directorate of School Education and the Mission Director, Swachh Bharat Mission.
Focus on critical gaps: CM Omar to Health Dept
Srinagar, Sep 14: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday chaired a meeting to review health sector reforms and the roadmap for further strengthening healthcare services across Jammu and Kashmir, assuring the Health Department of continued support and stating that whatever can be done from the Finance Department to continue the improvement will be done. The meeting was attended by Minister for Health & Medical Education Sakina Itoo, Advisor to the Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Dheeraj Gupta and Commissioner Secretary, Health & Medical Education, M. Raju, along with Director SKIMS, Principals of all Government Medical Colleges of J&K, Principal SKIMS Medical College & Hospital, Mission Director National Health Mission J&K, Managing Director J&K Medical Supplies Corporation Limited, Commissioner Food & Drug Administration and other concerned officers, while officers stationed outside Srinagar participated through video conferencing. Detailed presentations were made by the respective heads of the Advisory Committee on various aspects of the health sector, including healthcare infrastructure, medical education, specialized healthcare services, digital health, public health and human resource requirements, with the meeting reviewing the progress made in strengthening healthcare infrastructure and services across J&K and taking stock of the requirements and priorities for further improvement in the sector. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister appreciated the Health Department for the steps taken over the last nearly two years to address manpower shortages as well as infrastructure and equipment deficiencies, stating that he appreciated all the steps the department had taken over the last almost two years both in terms of addressing infrastructure and equipment deficiencies. He advised the department to focus on filling up critical gaps in the system as per the expected budgetary allocations, saying the report of the Advisory Committee would serve as the road map in this direction, and noted that the elaborate and extensive reforms plan would require huge funding, with the report suggesting what the healthcare system should look like in an ideal situation though the financial resources required may not be available in one go. The Chief Minister underlined the need to prioritize and plan which components need more immediate attention besides improving the basic facilities of the primary and secondary healthcare system, and assured the Health Department of continued support for further strengthening the sector. The meeting also reviewed the functioning and requirements of Government Medical Colleges, SKIMS and other tertiary and district-level healthcare institutions, with particular focus on improving patient care, infrastructure, equipment, medical education and specialized services. The discussions covered a wide range of areas, including cancer care, medical education and seat capacity, digital health services, oral healthcare, food safety, mental health and drug de-addiction, liver transplant services, nutritional support and geriatric care.
The order comes amid heightened political activity by the PTI, which has announced a nationwide protest for September 27
FUTRE CRAFT On 11 September, the Reserve Bank of India put out a draft rulebook for something Indian banks have been doing for two years without one. It is called a temporary debit hold. Money can still come into your account. You cannot move any of it out. The draft exists because the Supreme Court ordered it. On 4 August, a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, hearing a suo motu matter on digital arrest scams, gave the RBI four weeks to write a standard operating procedure for accounts locked over cyber fraud. Thousands of people had lost access to their own savings for months with no notice and no timetable for getting it back. The draft answers that. It also tells every commercial bank and urban cooperative bank in the country that it may place a hold on its own initiative, before a police officer or a magistrate is involved. The protection and the power arrived in the same document. What the draft actually authorises Read the definitions before the safeguards. A suspected money mule transaction is any transaction of 1,000 and above that a bank's monitoring system flags, including AI and machine-learning tools, on either of two grounds. The payment looks disproportionate to the account holder's declared profile, or it is linked to an account someone has already reported as a mule. Neither is a finding of fraud. The first is a mismatch between a payment and a form the customer filled in when the account was opened, possibly years ago. The second is association: someone upstream of you was flagged, so you are. Once flagged, the bank places the hold immediately and notifies afterwards. The account holder gets twenty days to explain. The bank then has ten days to decide, or thirty if no explanation arrives. If it continues the hold, it refers the case to the jurisdictional police through the national cybercrime portal and waits another thirty days. If nothing comes back, the hold lifts on the thirty-first day. Sixty days is the ceiling, and it binds only when law enforcement does nothing. The registry arrived first Ten days before the draft, on 1 September, a separate RBI-backed system went live. The Digital Payments Intelligence Platform's Smart Registry began operating with eight banks under a company called the Indian Digital Payments Intelligence Corporation. Its chief executive, K. Satyanarayana Raju, described the rollout at the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai this week. Another twenty-five banks are expected within two months and the top fifteen payment aggregators by the end of January, at which point he estimates the registry will cover roughly eighty per cent of payment volume. Raju was direct about the problem it solves. A bank could already block a mule account, but it could not stop the same person opening one elsewhere, because nothing was shared between institutions. The registry makes one bank's suspicion legible to all the others. It is consulted at four points: account opening, changes to a customer profile, addition of a beneficiary, and rechecking of existing customers against the list. Before it existed, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre's own suspect registry had already shared details of 27.37 lakh first-layer mule accounts with participating banks, according to a Lok Sabha reply covering the position as of 31 January this year. A debit hold ends on the sixtieth day. The record of it stays in the bank's files for five years, and enters a shared registry with no stated expiry at all. The part the procedure does not cover The draft requires the bank to keep a central record of every hold, with reasons and correspondence, for at least five years, or ten if the account is later closed. It also requires enhanced monitoring of the account holder's other accounts at that bank. What it does not say is what happens to any of this when the hold is lifted because the explanation was accepted. There is no deletion rule and no correction right. The draft does not mention the DPIP registry anywhere, so nothing obliges a bank to withdraw a cleared flag from it. The sequence for a cleared customer runs like this. Sixty days of restricted access, resolved. Five years of retained record. An entry in a national registry that thirty-three banks and fifteen payment aggregators will consult the next time that person opens an account or is added as a beneficiary by somebody else. At the same conference, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain said an institution may outsource the computation but cannot outsource the consequence, and that a customer affected by a serious financial decision deserves better than being told the model said so. A shared registry is, structurally, a way of spreading consequence to institutions that did not do the computing. Why the arithmetic lands differently here Officials have said more than 8,000 mule accounts were identified and frozen in Jammu and Kashmir over three years, as reported by Greater Kashmir in February. The J&K Police have run public warnings throughout this year about the recruitment of students and first-time earners into account-renting schemes. Set that beside the 1,000 threshold and the profile-mismatch test. A declared profile is thinnest for people whose income is seasonal or sent from abroad. A trader paid in a lump after the season, and a student receiving fees from a relative in the Gulf are the cases most likely to read as disproportionate to a form filled in years earlier. The case on the other side The fraud is not imaginary and speed matters. Money routed through layered accounts is gone in minutes. Until 30 June, the Home Ministry told Parliament in August, the cybercrime reporting system had logged more than 32.80 lakh financial fraud complaints and prevented the loss of 11,158 crore. A hold that waits for a warrant protects nobody. The draft also narrows current practice. Banks must notify the customer and state reasons. The customer has a written right to explain. Account-level holds are meant to be a last resort. There is a named nodal officer and a thirty-day window for resolving complaints. None of that is guaranteed today. The gap is not in the hold. It is in the record, and a thirty-day complaint window running against a sixty-day freeze returns the money rather than clearing the file. Bottom Line Comments close on 2 October and the directions are proposed to take effect from 1 April 2027. The registry is already running. Whoever writes the final version has one open question worth answering: when a bank accepts your explanation and releases your account, what happens to the flag? Until that is written down, the freeze will be temporary in a way the suspicion is not. (The Author studies Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA. He is interested in emerging technologies and innovation, and can be reached on LinkedIn at @arssh-kumar14)
BRICS on Terrorism: India Wins the Argument, Pakistan Faces Growing Isolation
Diplomatic victories are not always announced with sanctions, censures or the naming of an adversary. Sometimes they are contained in a few carefully negotiated words that fundamentally alter the international narrative. The latest BRICS declaration on terrorism is one such moment for India. By unequivocally condemning the Pahalgam terrorist attack and adopting strong language against cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorist financing, safe havens and double standards in dealing with terrorism, BRICS has strengthened an argument India has been making before the world for decades: terrorism cannot be legitimised by political explanations, nor can countries selectively distinguish between terrorists according to their strategic convenience. Pakistan has not been expressly named. That fact should neither be concealed nor exaggerated. Yet the political significance of the declaration lies precisely in the terminology accepted by a diverse group of important nations. For India, the development represents an important diplomatic achievement. For Pakistan, it presents an increasingly uncomfortable question: how long can the international narrative surrounding cross-border terrorism remain separated from the infrastructure, organisations and ideological networks that India has repeatedly accused of operating from Pakistani territory? Pahalgam Changes the Diplomatic Conversation The brutal terrorist attack at Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, in which 26 people were killed, was not allowed to disappear into the long list of terrorist incidents suffered by India. India made it an international diplomatic issue. The BRICS declaration's condemnation of the attack in the strongest terms gives the tragedy an important multilateral dimension. More significantly, the condemnation comes alongside language dealing with cross-border terrorism, financing and safe havens. That combination matters. India has consistently maintained that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir cannot be viewed merely through the prism of a political dispute. Terrorists require weapons, training, finance, communications, recruitment networks and places from which to operate. Fighting terrorism therefore requires action not merely against the individual who pulls the trigger but against the entire ecosystem that enables him.That principle has now received significant endorsement within BRICS. China's Signature Changes the Equation The most interesting part of the development is not the position taken by countries traditionally sympathetic to India's concerns. It is China's participation in the consensus. China remains Pakistan's closest strategic partner. The China-Pakistan relationship is deep, institutional and unlikely to be fundamentally altered by one diplomatic declaration. But that is not the point. The point is that Beijing has joined a consensus which condemns the Pahalgam attack while simultaneously endorsing zero tolerance towards terrorism and opposition to cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorist financing and safe havens. China cannot reasonably be expected to abandon Pakistan. But Pakistan also cannot indefinitely assume that its strategic relationship with China will insulate it from every international consensus on terrorism. That is an important shift. It gives India diplomatic space to argue in future international forums that the principles accepted at BRICS must also be reflected when specific terrorist organisations, individuals, financing structures and support networks come under scrutiny. The real test of the declaration will therefore come after the summit. Pakistan's Narrative Space Is Shrinking It would be premature to claim that Pakistan has become internationally isolated. Pakistan maintains important relationships with China, Gulf countries, the United States and several other powers. What is increasingly becoming isolated, however, is a particular narrative surrounding terrorism. The international community has progressively become less receptive to distinctions between supposedly acceptable and unacceptable forms of terrorism. The proposition that violence against civilians can somehow acquire legitimacy because of a territorial, religious or political grievance is becoming harder to defend. This is where India's diplomatic campaign has made considerable progress. New Delhi's argument is simple: there cannot be good terrorists and bad terrorists. A terrorist cannot become acceptable merely because his target happens to serve somebody else's geopolitical interests. The BRICS rejection of double standards reinforces precisely this principle. Modi's Foreign Policy Pays Dividends The declaration also demonstrates the value of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's multidirectional foreign policy. India today engages simultaneously with countries that frequently disagree with one another. It participates in the Quad while remaining one of the principal members of BRICS. It maintains its historic relationship with Russia while building an increasingly consequential partnership with the United States. It has dramatically expanded its engagement with the Gulf countries while maintaining close relations with Israel. At the same time, despite big differences with China, India continues engaging Beijing wherever national interests require it. This strategic autonomy has occasionally been criticised as difficult to balance. But BRICS demonstrates its usefulness. India has managed to place its core security concerns before a grouping containing countries with dramatically different geopolitical interests and secure a meaningful consensus. That strengthens India's credibility as an independent global power rather than an appendage of any geopolitical bloc. What Comes Next? The diplomatic battle will now move from declarations to implementation. India is likely to invoke the BRICS language at the United Nations and other multilateral forums whenever questions involving terrorist financing, safe havens or designation of terrorist individuals and organisations arise. The second consequence could be greater pressure upon Pakistan to demonstrate that action against terrorist organisations operating from its territory is genuine, irreversible and comprehensive. The thirdand perhaps most importanttest concerns China. If Beijing has endorsed zero tolerance and opposition to double standards at BRICS, India can legitimately expect these principles to be reflected when terrorism-related questions arise before international institutions. New Delhi should consistently remind the international community of this commitment. India should also push the debate beyond condemnation of individual attacks. Terrorism cannot be defeated merely by issuing statements after innocent people have been murdered. The infrastructure preceding the attack has to be dismantled. Follow the money. Identify the recruiters. Expose the ideological ecosystem. Destroy safe havens. Punish those who provide logistical support. And ensure that states cannot evade responsibility when terrorist infrastructure is allowed to operate from their territory. That should constitute the next stage of India's diplomatic campaign. A Battle India Is Gradually Winning For decades, India frequently found itself explaining terrorism to a world that viewed violence in Jammu and Kashmir primarily through the lens of an India-Pakistan dispute. That international discourse has changed considerably. The world today understands terrorism differently. September 11 changed the United States. Terror attacks changed Europe. ISIS demonstrated the global reach of extremist ideology. Countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East have themselves suffered devastating terrorism. India's warnings therefore resonate differently today. The BRICS declaration should be understood against this larger transformation. Pakistan has not been formally condemned. It has not been named. Nor should India manufacture claims beyond what the declaration actually says. India does not need to. The language itself tells the story. When a major international grouping containing China, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Iran, the UAE, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia and India condemns the Pahalgam terrorist attack while simultaneously speaking of cross-border movement of terrorists, financing, safe havens, zero tolerance and rejection of double standards, the diplomatic direction is unmistakable. The message from New Delhi is clear: terrorism cannot have a justification, terrorists cannot have privileged sanctuaries, and those who enable terrorism cannot indefinitely escape international scrutiny. India's challenge now is to convert this diplomatic consensus into sustained international action. If it succeeds, the BRICS declaration may eventually be remembered as more than carefully drafted diplomatic language. It could mark another decisive stage in India's decades-long effort to change the world's understanding of cross-border terrorism. Pakistan may not have been named in New Delhi. But the space available for the old arguments is getting smaller. And sometimes in diplomacy, isolation begins not when a country is named, but when the world stops accepting its narrative. (The Authors are spokespersons of BJP and can be reached at: srps7737@gmail.com )
Govt launches big student-led cleanliness push
Srinagar, Sep 14: Jammu and Kashmir aims to involve nearly 25 to 30 lakh students in a cleanliness campaign, with children being encouraged to become brand ambassadors and take ownership of public spaces, Commissioner and Secretary, School Education Department, J&K, Ram Niwas Sharma, said on Monday. Speaking about the initiative launched by the Housing and Urban Development Department, Sharma said the campaign seeks to involve students, teachers and professors across schools and colleges in promoting cleanliness. He said J&K and Srinagar have historically been known for their natural beauty and pristine surroundings, but the growing arrival of tourists has also highlighted the need to keep public spaces clean. Today's goal is for all our children to become brand ambassadors of cleanliness and start owning public spaces, Sharma said. He said people generally keep their homes clean but often do not show the same sense of ownership towards public spaces and government property. The initiative aims to develop responsibility among students towards their surroundings and public assets. Sharma said there is no reason why Srinagar cannot achieve a better cleanliness ranking than Indore in the coming years. He also stressed the need to protect J&Ks villages, lakes, mountains, rivers and heritage sites. He said J&Ks villages are no less beautiful than those in Sikkim or Meghalaya and can also aspire to become among the cleanest villages. Referring to Meghalaya, Sharma said a village there has been recognised as the cleanest in Asia and asked why J&Ks villages cannot achieve similar recognition. He also called for greater focus on protecting the Jhelum and preserving the regions lakes, mountains and heritage. Sharma said the campaign also promotes the concept of Waste to Wonder and Waste to Wealth, with the aim of turning waste into a useful resource. He said involving students in the cleanliness mission can create a long-term change in public behaviour and strengthen the cleanliness of tourist destinations across J&K. Sharma linked the initiative with the broader vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, saying J&K must develop clean surroundings so that people visiting the region experience well-maintained cities, villages and tourist destinations.
The red carpet had been rolled out. The cameras were rolling. Bollywood had arrived by the droves, with the likes of Vidhu Vinod Chopra suffused with a sense of nostalgia and exclaiming that finally it was a homecoming for him to come to Kashmir and watch the heralding of the first ever IFFJK( International film festival of Jammu & Kashmir) at the International Convention Centre in Srinagar. The inaugural session of the International Film Festival of J&K was held on 07 th Sep 2026 with a passionate pitch by the CM, Omar Abdullah, making it known to the attendees, national as well as international film-makers, to carry a piece of J&K in their hearts, asserting that the UT was open, safe, vibrant and eager once again to welcome them with open arms. Urging the congregation that had some of the whos who of film making fraternity across the globe, the CM was in his element when he exhorted them that it was they who were now the virtual ambassadors for the UT and should showcase J&K to the rest of the world as a happening place. The irony was striking. The festival carried the name Jammu & Kashmir, with words as international film being used to mark the event being showcased as the joint representation of both regions of the erstwhile state. This grandstanding has always been the wont of Kashmir-centric thinkers and doers for decades, to no end. Welcome to yet another write-up that has the seeds of dissension not only within J&K, but also outside the geographical boundaries of the UT. At the very outset, let me put a word of caution to the readers that this attempt of mine is not at all an anti-Kashmir article, but as an equaliser for the Jammu region. This should not become, as mentioned by me above, another tired Jammu vs Kashmir argument. Nor should anyone interpret it as resentment towards Kashmirs success. Kashmir has an extraordinary cinematic landscape, and it is entirely legitimate that filmmakers should rediscover it. The problem begins when a festival carrying the name Jammu& Kashmir starts becoming, in perception and projection, predominantly a festival of Kashmir. Jammu cannot be a prefix in nomenclature of the erstwhile state and a footnote in the narrative. Highlighting the cinemas power to transcend cultural and geo-political divides, the present CM of J&K said it is a universal language that knows no borders, requires no translation, and reminds us of our shared humanity, urging the filmmakers from more than 40 countries to seek out stories of J&K. Absolutely to the point. The reach of cinema in todays world holds the same charisma that it held centuries back, when in 1895, the French inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiere held the first public screening of projected motion pictures at the Grand caf in Paris. But more than this milestone, for J&K, the holding of IFFJK at Srinagar on 07 September 2026 transcends cinematic aspirations and dwells into the intangible world of Geo-strategic machinations. Once a place where, after sunset, all means of entertainment used to be shut under the threat of terrorists guns, the very idea of holding IFFJK has outsmarted all nefarious designs churned out by forces inimical to Indian interests on both sides of the Pir Panjal ranges. The same sentiments were uttered by Mr Jatinder Singh, Union Minister (MoS) in the PMO, who was called upon to address the conference at the IFFJK. Do the filmmakers, both at the national as well as international level, know that Jammu has a cinematic canvas that remains astonishingly unexplored? There is the grandeur of Mubarak Mandi, once the seat of Dogra royalty for centuries, and from where some very momentous decisions were made, which still have their reverberations felt on the firmament of this sub-continent. There is the Bahu fort overlooking the Tawi river. There are ancient temples of Purmandal and Utterbehni, and still much more in the form of world-famous Basholi, with its internationally recognised miniature Pahari paintings, many of them unfortunately being displayed at world-famous museums and exhibitions cum art festivals in the USA and even in Europe and not in India? There are Mansar and Surinsar lakes from which Dogra land derives its very sustenance as far as its identity goes. There are forests, mountains, rivers, forts and palaces which I am quite sure is a cinema-goers delight, provided put on the silver screen. But more importantly, there are people and stories. Stories of Dogra history, valour, as also of present-day soldiers and their border villages. Stories of partition and displacement; and not to miss countless tales from the border towns of Poonch and Rajouri. Once considered the Sword arm of northern India , the simple folk of Dogra land belong to that civilisation which stood at the crossroads of destiny of this nation, both in terms of survival from onslaughts of foreign marauders from the NW of India as also the progenitors of a bygone era of chivalry. Is this not enough of ammo for the national / International film makers to charge their cinematic guns with loads of good material and direct them towards their cinema-goers? If it is not, then I am not sure what else will entice the cinema-goers to gravitate towards Jammu-centric stuff in the movies. The stated ambition of IFFJK was impressive. The organisers described it as a platform for artistic excellence, cultural exchange, filmmaking and film tourism, with international competition, regional cinema and industry interactions. The festival website also specifically provided for Jammu screenings. But an international film festival is not merely about where films are screened. It is also about where people are taken, whom they meet, what they see and what stories they carry home. If internationally known actors, directors, producers and cinematographers had come to J&K, why werent they taken to the cultural and historical locales of the Jammu region? Why couldnt IIFJK organise a dedicated Jammu film festival and story market, where local writers, filmmakers, actors, and production houses could pitch their stories to national and international producers? That would have been a genuine inclusion. The current IIFJK, by putting Jammu simply as the destination for screening schedules, is an outright insult to the countless cinegoers as well as acclaimed present & past Dogra actors and heroes who did proud the Bollywood world by their cinematic prowess. The spotlight of IFFJK should have crossed the mighty Pir Panjal ranges and landed on the terra firma of Jammu to be of any real worth. Could a complete half of the UT ( Jammu region) be discarded from the halo so garnered by this festival? There could have been a simple solution to this imbroglio. If the first edition has had its grand opening and principal ceremonies in Srinagar, then ideally the closing edition should have been earmarked for Jammu; the actual gateway to J&K. Because if IFFJK is genuinely a festival of international acclaim and representing the whole of UT, then Jammu cannot remain the missing frame in the picture. (The writer is a retired army officer & a regular scribe of Rising Kashmir paper. He can be approached at his email: slalotra4729@gmail.com)
LG, CM condole loss of lives in Reasi road accident
Srinagar, Sep 14: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday expressed grief over a tragic road accident in Reasi district in which two people were killed and five others injured. The accident occurred when a passenger minibus met with an accident on the Reasi-Bakal road near the Batalgala Tunnel on Monday. In his condolence message, the Lieutenant Governor said, Deeply pained to learn about the loss of precious lives in a tragic road accident in Reasi. My deepest condolences to the bereaved families. Praying for speedy recovery of the injured. CM Abdullah also expressed deep grief over the loss of lives and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, while directing the authorities to ensure the best possible medical care for those injured.
Road Safety Cannot Remain an Afterthought
Two people lost their lives, and seven others were injured after a passenger Matador overturned near the Bakkal Tunnel in Reasi district. The vehicle was travelling from Bakkal towards Reasi when it met with the accident. Police and rescue teams reached the spot and shifted the injured to a nearby hospital, while authorities initiated proceedings. These immediate responses were necessary, but they cannot be the end of the matter. Every road accident is first reported as an unfortunate incident. Yet many such incidents are not sudden or unavoidable. They are often the result of a chain of failures: unsafe roads, inadequate protection along vulnerable stretches, poor vehicle maintenance, rash driving, overloading, fatigue, weak enforcement and delayed emergency support. Until these underlying causes are examined, official condolences and procedural inquiries will remain insufficient. The Bakkal Tunnel area, like several roads in the hilly districts of Jammu and Kashmir, demands particular caution. Sharp turns, steep gradients, narrow carriageways, poor visibility and unpredictable weather can turn a routine journey into a deadly risk. Public transport vehicles operating on such routes must therefore meet the highest standards of fitness and safety. A Matador carrying passengers is not merely a private vehicle; it is part of a public transport system whose operators and regulators carry a direct responsibility for every life on board. The identities of the deceased and injured were still being ascertained when the accident was reported. That detail underscores another urgent need: prompt communication with families and humane support for victims. The injured must receive timely treatment without bureaucratic obstacles, while the families of those killed should be provided compensation and assistance in coping with the aftermath. Such support is not charity; it is the states obligation to citizens who depend on public transport. The administration must now ensure that the investigation does not become a formality. It should establish whether the vehicle was roadworthy, whether the driver was properly licensed and rested, whether safety rules were being followed, and whether road conditions or engineering defects contributed to the crash. The findings should be made public, followed by corrective action rather than being filed away as another statistic. Road safety needs a preventive approach. Regular inspections of passenger vehicles, strict action against overloading and speeding, better signage, protective barriers near vulnerable stretches, trained drivers, and rapid emergency response can save lives. District authorities must also identify accident-prone locations and address them before another tragedy occurs. The loss of two lives near Reasi should not fade from public memory after the injured are treated and the paperwork is completed. It should serve as a warning that safe mobility is a basic public right. Roads connect communities, but without accountability and care, they can also become corridors of grief.
Protecting Consumers from Unfair Trade
The direction by the Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to intensify the crackdown on unfair trade practices is both timely and necessary. For consumers, especially those living in remote and rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the marketplace often remains a space where they are forced to negotiate not only prices but also the basic question of fairness. Overcharging, under-weighing, hoarding, adulteration, misleading claims and the sale of expired or substandard products are not minor violations. They directly affect household budgets, public health and consumer confidence. When such practices continue unchecked, the ordinary citizen is made to pay twice: first through inflated prices and poor-quality goods, and again through the failure of institutions to enforce the rules meant to protect them. The problem becomes more serious during festivals, harsh winters, emergencies and periods of supply disruption. Traders exploiting such situations by creating artificial scarcity or charging arbitrary rates place an unfair burden on families already struggling with rising living costs. In many parts of the region, consumers may also have limited access to alternatives, making them particularly vulnerable to exploitation. The departmental directive must therefore be followed by visible and sustained action. Inspections should not be reduced to occasional exercises conducted only after complaints or media reports. Markets require regular monitoring, transparent enforcement and strict action against repeat offenders. The identity of violators, the nature of the offence and the action taken should be placed in the public domain wherever legally permissible. Such transparency would send a clear message that violations carry consequences. At the same time, enforcement agencies must ensure that action is even-handed. Small shopkeepers should not become easy targets while influential or well-connected traders escape scrutiny. The objective should not be to harass legitimate businesses but to create a level playing field in which honest traders are protected, and consumers receive what they pay for. Consumer awareness is equally important. People must be encouraged to check weights, expiry dates, packaging, bills and displayed prices. Complaint mechanisms should be simple, accessible and responsive. A consumer who reports malpractice should not be made to undertake a long and complicated bureaucratic journey before receiving relief. The administration must also invest in strengthening inspection teams, testing facilities and grievance-redressal systems. Technology can help track repeated violations, monitor essential commodity prices and identify areas where complaints are concentrated. But technology will have little value without field-level accountability. A fair marketplace is a foundation of public trust. The latest directive should not remain another circular lost in official files. It must become the beginning of a sustained campaign to protect consumers, discipline erring traders, and restore confidence in the system. Citizens have the right to safe goods, accurate weights and reasonable prices. Ensuring that right is not merely an administrative responsibility; it is a measure of good governance.
Martyrdom, 37 Years of Exile and Moving Forward: The Kashmiri Pandit Struggle
Thirty-seven years is too long to remain in exile from ones own homeland. For the Kashmiri Pandits, however, exile is not simply a measure of time. It is a measure of lossthe loss of homes, neighbourhoods, livelihoods, institutions, temples, community networks and, most painfully, the loss of loved ones to targeted violence. Yet after 37 years, the defining story of the Kashmiri Pandit community is not one of defeat. It is one of resilience, remembrance and an unbroken determination to reclaim its place in the land of its ancestors. The martyrs remain at the heart of this struggle. Their memory is not an instrument of revenge; it is a moral claim for justice. Every life lost represented a family and a future violently interrupted. To remember those who were killed is to affirm that their lives mattered and that the circumstances surrounding their deaths cannot simply disappear from the historical record. The tragedy of Kashmirs Pandits must therefore be understood not merely as a humanitarian episode of displacement but as a profound rupture in Kashmirs civilisational and pluralistic character. The unfinished chapter of Kashmir The mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 198990 transformed the Valleys social landscape. A community with deep historical roots in Kashmir was forced to abandon its homes and seek safety elsewhere. Families were scattered across India. Many spent years in camps and temporary settlements before rebuilding their lives. The community demonstrated extraordinary resilience. It educated its children, established new institutions and made substantial contributions to Indias professional, intellectual, administrative, scientific, legal and economic life. But success in exile cannot erase the loss of homeland. For many families, the house left behind remains more than a property. It is a repository of memory. A temple is not merely a structure. It represents continuity. A village or neighbourhood is not merely geography. It represents belonging. That is why the Kashmiri Pandit demand for return cannot be reduced to compensation, employment packages or migrant welfare. It is fundamentally a demand for dignity, security, justice and the restoration of belonging. Exile must not become permanent India has changed dramatically during these 37 years. It has emerged as one of the worlds major economies, expanded its technological and strategic capabilities and acquired greater influence in global affairs. It is therefore legitimate to ask: if India can aspire to global leadership, can it not also find the political will and institutional capacity to facilitate the dignified return of a displaced indigenous community to its ancestral homeland? The answer must be yes. The return of Kashmiri Pandits should be treated as a national commitment rather than an episodic political promise. A credible return policy must be time-bound, secure, empowered and community-driven. It must be formulated in consultation with representative Kashmiri Pandit organisations rather than imposed as a bureaucratic rehabilitation scheme. The objective should not be to send families back merely to occupy houses. The objective should be to enable them to rebuild a secure, productive and dignified life. A new return architecture The Union Government should consider a comprehensive Kashmiri Pandit Return and Rehabilitation Mission, with clear timelines and accountability. One practical component could be the establishment of modern, secure and economically viable composite townships in Anantnag, Srinagar and Baramulla, alongside other suitable locations. Such townships should not become ghettoised enclaves. They should be integrated into the larger social and economic life of Kashmir while providing adequate security, schools, hospitals, employment opportunities, civic infrastructure and cultural institutions. Returnees must also have access to their ancestral properties, subject to lawful verification and adjudication. A specialised mechanism should address encroachments, dispossession and property disputes through transparent and expeditious procedures. Security remains non-negotiable. No community can return sustainably without confidence that its physical safety and constitutional rights will be protected. But security alone is insufficient. There must also be political empowerment. Those who return must have an effective voice in local governance and in institutions dealing with their rehabilitation, property, education, culture and security. Restore the cultural bridge Kashmirs cultural heritage cannot be preserved by separating its communities from it. The temples, shrines, springs, educational institutions, manuscripts, traditions and sacred sites associated with Kashmiri Pandit civilisation require systematic documentation, preservation and restoration. This is not merely a community project. It is an Indian civilisational responsibility. The restoration of Kashmiri Pandit heritage should be undertaken alongside the preservation of the heritage of all communities that have contributed to Kashmirs composite culture. Indeed, the return of the Pandits can become an important instrument of cultural reconciliation. Justice, truth and reconciliation Moving forward does not mean forgetting the past. There can be no durable reconciliation without acknowledging the suffering of victims. Kashmir needs a credible process of documentation and truth-telling concerning the violence, killings, displacement and destruction that accompanied the turmoil. Such an initiative should not be designed around collective blame or retribution. Its purpose should be to establish a factual record, recognise victims, preserve memory and create the moral foundations for reconciliation. The Kashmiri Pandit community has repeatedly demonstrated that its demand for justice need not be incompatible with peace. Indeed, justice and reconciliation should be seen as complementary rather than competing objectives. A future Kashmir must not be built on competing memories in which one communitys suffering is acknowledged while anothers is ignored. The larger meaning of return The return of Kashmiri Pandits should not be portrayed as a zero-sum proposition. Their return would not diminish the rights or aspirations of other Kashmiris. It would strengthen Kashmirs plural character. Kashmirs composite culture was created through centuries of interaction among communities and traditions. The Pandits were not outsiders to this story. They were among its principal custodians and contributors. Their physical absence has therefore created a civilisational vacuum that cannot be fully addressed through nostalgia or symbolism. The restoration of their presence would send a powerful message: that terrorism cannot permanently alter the social character of a region; that displacement need not become destiny; and that pluralism can survive even its darkest assault. A new generation, a new responsibility A particularly urgent dimension is the younger generation. Thousands of young Kashmiri Pandits have grown up outside Kashmir. Their connection with the homeland is often mediated through family memories and inherited traditions. The longer exile continues, the greater the danger that displacement will become normalised across generations. That cannot be allowed to happen. The community must be enabled to transmit its language, traditions, history and cultural memory to its childrenbut it must also be given the opportunity to experience Kashmir as a living homeland rather than merely an inherited memory. The slogan of the community must therefore evolve from remembrance alone to constructive determination: We remember. We endure. We return. From exile to return The 37th year of exile should become a moment of national introspection. The question is no longer whether the Kashmiri Pandit issue deserves attention. It unquestionably does. The question is whether India is prepared to provide a concrete pathway from exile to return. The Union Government should initiate structured dialogue with representative Kashmiri Pandit organisations and announce a time-bound return and rehabilitation module, with defined objectives, institutional responsibility and periodic public review. The community, for its part, must continue to approach the challenge with unity, democratic engagement and a forward-looking vision. The objective should be neither perpetual victimhood nor isolation. It should be restoration, participation and coexistence. The Kashmiri Pandit struggle is ultimately larger than the fate of one displaced community. It concerns the meaning of justice in a democracy and the capacity of a nation to correct a historic wrong. Kashmirs future cannot be complete without the return of its displaced people. After 37 years, the message should be unequivocal: Enough is enough. Exile cannot be a permanent condition. The time has come to move from commemoration to action, from relief to rehabilitation, from promises to a roadmap, and from exile to a dignified return. The return of the Kashmiri Pandits should not be viewed merely as the restoration of a displaced community. It should be seen as the restoration of Kashmirs own plural soul. (The Author is a noted Senior Advocate and prominent Kashmiri Leader)
Mankote heritage sites get 3.37 crore push
Mendhar, Sep 14: In a major push to promote heritage and religious tourism in the Pir Panjal region, Minister for Jal Shakti, Forest, Ecology & Environment and Tribal Affairs, Javed Ahmed Rana, on Monday announced development of key heritage and religious sites in Mankote, while addressing a gathering in the area. Highlighting the importance of preserving the region's rich cultural and religious heritage, the Minister informed that an amount of 173 lakh has been earmarked for development of the historic Ramkund Temple, a prominent heritage and religious site in the area. Similarly, 78 lakh have been provided for development of Lower Devta while 86 lakh have been earmarked for development of Chotey Shah. These places hold immense religious, cultural and heritage significance and attract a large number of pilgrims and visitors, said the Minister. He added that their systematic development will help preserve the region's invaluable heritage while promoting religious and heritage tourism in Mankote and adjoining areas. He said improved infrastructure and better facilities for pilgrims and visitors will enhance the tourism potential of the region and generate opportunities for local employment and economic activities. The Minister said the government is committed to promote tourism by developing religious, cultural and heritage destinations across the region. He added that development of Ramkund Temple, Lower Devta and Chotey Shah will help place these sites on the tourism map and encourage more visitors to explore the area's rich heritage and natural beauty. During his address, the Minister apprised the public of various development projects, works and schemes presently under execution in the area. He also highlighted the new schemes and projects approved or proposed for execution during the current financial year 2026-27. He said sustained efforts are being made to ensure comprehensive and balanced development of the region, with special focus on strengthening basic infrastructure, improving public amenities and creating new opportunities for the local population. Later, the Minister convened a meeting with officers of the concerned departments to review the pace of ongoing works in the area. During the meeting, he directed the officers to accord utmost priority to public welfare and ensure that all development projects under execution are taken to their logical conclusion within the stipulated timeframe, without compromising on quality of work. The Minister said that efforts would continue to bring development to every village and every section of the society.
Restore statehood to ease governance in J&N: NC
Srinagar, Sep 14: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) Provincial President Showkat Mir on Monday called for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir without further delay, saying it was essential for effective governance. Mir made the remarks while interacting with public delegations, party leaders and functionaries from different areas at the NC headquarters in Srinagar. He listened to issues raised by the visiting delegations and directed party functionaries to approach the concerned authorities for their redressal. He also sought feedback from workers on organisational matters, party programmes and ongoing activities. Mir said the government headed by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah remained committed to addressing public concerns and that serving the people was its foremost priority. He said restoration of statehood would allow the government to function more effectively and without unnecessary constraints. The NC leader also accused the PDP, BJP and their like-minded parties of engaging in what he termed false propaganda against the National Conference. He alleged that these parties had contributed to the dismantling of Jammu and Kashmirs historic statehood and created difficulties for its people. Mir urged party workers to keep public concerns at the centre of their activities and work towards strengthening the bond between the party and the people. Provincial Secretary Syed Tauqeer Ahmad, senior party leader and Pulwama District President Mohammad Khalil Band, Ghulam Nabi Wani Tilbali and other party functionaries were present during the interaction.
KU hosts expert lecture on Himalayan geology
Srinagar Sep 14: The Department of Geology, University of Kashmir (KU), organised an interactive expert talk by Prof. Michal Krobicki, AGH University of Krakow, Faculty of Geology, Poland, on Palaeobiogeographical Significance of the Early Jurassic Lithiotis-type Bivalves from HimalayanKarakoramTibet Perspective & the Early Permian Breakup of Pangea/Open Neotethys at the Main Campus. In a statement, the talk aimed to provide students and researchers with insights into the geological history of the HimalayanKarakoramTibet region, with particular focus on palaeobiogeography, plate movements, the evolution of the Neotethys and the geological processes associated with the breakup of Pangea. The Himalayan region provides an important geological record for understanding past plate movements, palaeogeographic changes and the opening and evolution of the Neotethys, Prof. Krobicki said, while explaining the significance of the geological evidence discussed during the talk. He also highlighted the importance of such academic engagements in exposing students and researchers to contemporary developments in Earth sciences and creating opportunities for interaction with international experts. Speaking on the occasion, renowned Earth Scientist and former Vice-Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof. Talat Ahmad said, Such academic interactions are important for connecting students and researchers with current developments and international scholarship in Earth sciences. Dean, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences KU, Prof. Pervez Ahmad, and Head, Department of Geology KU, Prof. Ghulam Jeelani, noted the value of such expert lectures in strengthening academic exchange and encouraging research-oriented discussions within the department. The talk was followed by an interactive question-and-answer session, during which students and research scholars actively engaged with Prof. Krobicki on various aspects of the subject. Earlier, Prof. Krobicki called on the Vice-Chancellor, KU Prof. Nilofer Khan, and held a brief interaction with her in the presence of Prof. Talat Ahmad. During the interaction, Prof. Krobicki emphasised the significance of discussions on Himalayan geology and palaeobiogeography in understanding the regions complex geological evolution. He noted that such academic engagements provide students with valuable opportunities for scholarly exchange, while also helping them stay abreast of the latest developments and emerging research in the field.
Machail to get 3.75 crore PWD guest house
Kishtwar, Sep 14: Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary on Monday visited Tehsil Machail in Sub Division Paddar as part of his two-day visit to Kishtwar district and reviewed ongoing development works in the area. During the visit, Choudhary paid obeisance at the Shri Machail Mata Ji Temple and laid the foundation stone for a PWD guest house near Shri Machail Mata Ji Bhawan. The guest house will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 3.75 crore and is aimed at strengthening accommodation infrastructure in Machail and meeting the requirements associated with the area.
EJAC urges govt to address NHM demands
Srinagar: The Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) Jammu and Kashmir has expressed serious concern over the ongoing protest by employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) and urged the Government to intervene immediately and resolve their genuine and long-pending issues in a time-bound manner. In a statement, Senior Trade Union leader and EJAC President Fayaz Ahmad Shabnam said that the NHM employees constitute an important component of the healthcare delivery system in Jammu and Kashmir and have been rendering their services for years under demanding circumstances across Jammu and Kashmir. He urged the Government to adopt a sympathetic and positive approach towards the concerns of the protesting employees and initiate meaningful dialogue with their representatives so that the ongoing protest is brought to an early end. Mr. Shabnam said that the demands being raised by the NHM employees are genuine and deserve due consideration. These employees have been continuously contributing to the healthcare system and serving the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the concerns of these employees relating to remuneration, pay disparity, job security and social security cannot be allowed to remain unresolved indefinitely. The EJAC President stressed that the issue of pay disparity with NHM employees working in other states needs to be examined objectively, keeping in view the nature of duties, responsibilities and length of service of the employees. He further urged the Government to formulate a clear and comprehensive policy for job security and regularisation so that employees working under NHM are not left in uncertainty regarding their future. Fayaz Ahmad Shabnam said that while the interests of patients and uninterrupted healthcare services must remain paramount, a prolonged agitation can be avoided only through constructive dialogue and a mutually acceptable resolution. Mr. Shabnam expressed hope that the Government would respond positively to their genuine concerns and take necessary measures to end the present impasse.
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NC reiterates opposition to uniform civil code
Srinagar, Sep 14: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) Treasurer and Rajya Sabha member Shammi Oberoi on Monday opposed the BJP's reported plan to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in 21 states, describing the move as a threat to India's secular and pluralistic character. Addressing media persons at the party headquarters, Oberoi reiterated the JKNC's opposition to the proposed UCC, saying it could interfere with the personal laws, religious practices and traditions of different communities. He said India's strength lies in its religious, cultural and linguistic diversity and stressed that constitutional safeguards protecting the traditions and rights of different communities should be respected. Any attempt to impose a single uniform legal system on all sections of society could undermine the countrys fundamental pluralistic character, Oberoi said. The JKNC leader said the country's democratic and secular identity was rooted in its diversity and called for protection of the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. He said the National Conference remained committed to constitutional, democratic, secular and pluralistic principles and would oppose measures that, according to him, undermine the rights or identities of India's diverse communities. Oberoi urged the Central Government to respect the religious sentiments and constitutional rights of all sections and called for an all-party meeting to facilitate wider consultation on the issue. He also cautioned against any attempt to implement the UCC without broad-based discussion.
Baba Rishi shrine gets upgrade, high-tech ambulance
Tangmarg, Sep 14: J&K Waqf Board Chairperson and Minister of State Dr Syed Darakhshan Andrabi on Monday inaugurated a shrine upgradation project and high-tech ambulance service at the revered Baba Payam-ud-Din Rishi shrine at Baba Rishi, Tangmarg. Andrabi paid obeisance at the shrine and offered prayers for peace, prosperity and the well-being of the people of Jammu and Kashmir before participating in an event organised by the J&K Waqf Board. The shrine upgradation project includes beautification of the shrine complex, improvement of facilities and measures for better management. Later, Andrabi reviewed ongoing development works, including those at Gulmarg Jamia Masjid, and interacted with the engineering team, directing timely completion of the projects as per prescribed plans. Addressing the gathering, Andrabi said the Waqf Board was undertaking a comprehensive transformation of its properties and shrines across Jammu and Kashmir, with emphasis on modern infrastructure, public amenities, cleanliness and preservation of spiritual heritage. She said the Board's objective was to ensure that shrines and Waqf institutions provide improved facilities to devotees while retaining their historical and cultural character. Andrabi also called for collective efforts by Waqf officials, local communities and devotees to maintain the sanctity, cleanliness and dignity of shrines. Senior Waqf Board officials and concerned engineering officers were present on the occasion.
CM Omar holds meetings with MLAs, delegations
Srinagar, Sep 14: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today met a number of legislators, delegations and individuals at the Civil Secretariat here and discussed issues of public importance. The Chief Minister met MLA Sonawari Hilal Akbar Lone along with a delegation. The delegation raised various developmental issues and public welfare concerns pertaining to the constituency. MLA Khansahib Saif-ud-Din Bhat also called on the Chief Minister and apprised him of several constituency-specific issues. The Chief Minister also met Director, ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH), Srinagar, M.K. Verma, and Deputy Director, National Horticulture Board, Ashok Kumar. The delegation discussed various matters concerning the functioning and development of the Centre with the Chief Minister.
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Foreign intelligence agencies are deeply using technologies such as intelligent web crawlers, intelligent data mining, and intelligent profiling analysis to extensively collect and acquire sensitive information such as key national data, trade secrets, and citizens' personal privacy, Minister of State Security Chen Yixin wrote in an article
VD Satheesan AI dance video restricted by Meta in India after going viral
Meta restricted access in India to a viral AI-generated video showing Keralam Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan dancing with electricity board officials, following a notice from the Government of India. The video, created by aikavala on Instagram, amassed 1.78 crore views. Before the restriction, Chief Minister Satheesan had publicly acknowledged and appreciated the clip at a Kerala High Court eventThe creators announced the regional block after receiving a notification from Meta citing a government notice, though the exact reason from authorities has not been detailed.
Watch: BRICS Summit: Deals, divisions and diplomacy | Worldview
How did India forge consensus at the BRICS Summit, and what were the deals behind the scenes that made the New Delhi Declaration possible? With BRICS taking a united stand on economic issues and criticising tariffs and sanctions, can the bloc emerge as a serious challenge to the Western-led global order?
ANTF Kashmir Busts Drug Trafficking Bid, Two Punjab-Based Peddlers Held With 110g Heroin
Srinagar, Sep 14: In a major crackdown on narcotics trafficking, the Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) Kashmir has arrested two Punjab-based alleged drug peddlers and recovered 110 grams of heroin from their possession in the Gangbugh area of Srinagar. According to officials, the action followed credible inputs regarding the transportation and possession of narcotic substances in the area. Following the information, FIR No. 14/2026 under Sections 8/21 and 29 of the NDPS Act was registered at Police Station ANTF Kashmir. A team led by the Investigating Officer was subsequently deployed to the spot under the supervision of Dy. SP ANTF Kashmir. During the operation, two persons identified as Vicky Kumar and Rajesh, both sons of Mithu Ram and residents of Matta Ward, Ferozepur, Punjab, were apprehended. Officials said the search was conducted in the presence of a Magistrate and police and civilian witnesses, during which 110 grams of heroin was recovered. Both accused have been arrested, while further investigation is underway to trace the source and intended destination of the contraband and identify the wider network involved in its transportation and distribution. The ANTF Kashmir has reiterated its commitment to taking stringent action against narcotics trafficking and dismantling drug networks operating in the region.
Watch: Former Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal surrenders; SC lists appeal | Above the Fold | Sept 14
Tarun Tejpal surrenders in Goa to begin serving his 10-year prison sentence after rape conviction.
Maharashtra govt. orders probe into land transfer to Premier Automobiles over six decades ago
Following allegations of cattle-grazing land allotted for industrial purpose in 1960s turning into premium real estate in alleged land use violation, the Maharashtra Revenue Department has constituted a nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by the Konkan Divisional Commissioner
Ram Madhav on Gen Z protests, social media and BJPs youth outreach
BJP leader Ram Madhav said the concerns and aspirations of Indias youth must be addressed, while discussing the recent Gen Z protests. He said the BJP considers youth engagement a priority and plans to increase its outreach in colleges and universities.
Maruti Suzuki achieves one lakh units of Jimmy, FRONX, e VITARA exports to Japan
Exports of FRONX to Japan commenced in August 2024, followed by Jimny 5-door in December 2024. TheCompanys first Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), e VITARA, joined this export portfolio in September 2025
Hockey India, franchises mull change in HIL governance structure
Even as some of the top brass of Hockey India was present in Chandigarh for the formal announcement of the mens Asian Champions Trophy, HI president Dilip Tirkey was meeting Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and other senior government officials along with HIL franchises in New Delhi
Former DUTA chief Aditya Narayan Mishra joins Congress, flags crisis in education
Mr. Mishra joined the party in the presence of Delhi Congress in-charge Qazi Nizamuddin, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav, AICC Uttar Pradesh in-charge Rajendra Pal Gautam and other party leaders
Watch: West Bengal issues closure notice to 252 unrecognised madrasas
West Bengal has shuttered 252 unaided and unrecognised madrasas in a massive state education overhaul. Triggered by a comprehensive district survey under the Suvendu Adhikari administration, the sweeping closures target institutions plagued by severe infrastructural and regulatory irregularities. With hundreds more facing show-cause notices and sweeping policy shifts like One State, One Education underway, the crackdown has ignited an intense political firestorm over institutional oversight, uniformity, and the future of independent schooling.
At The HindusMade of Chennai photo exhibition, the Madras MBS Choir takes the stage
The Madras MBS Choir, Indias oldest choral music group, came together to perform at Madras On Stage, an archival photo exhibition presented as part of The Hindus Made Of Chennai initiative in front of an archival photograph of the choir in performance from 17 years ago
Backward Classes group raises concern over challenges to caste census
National BC Dal president Dundra Kumaraswamy said variations arising from regional nomenclature, sub-caste identities, local usage, pronunciation and spelling could result in multiple entries for what may, in social terms, represent the same community
BRICS summit success seen by whole world says Jaishankar
Essar firm to acquire U.K. fuel retailer for 400 million
Viral Gathani, Head of Strategic Transactions at Essar Energy Transition said, This is a unique, best-in-class opportunity and advances a core part of our M&A strategy
Watch: Orangutan fever: Rescued baby at Odisha zoo falls ill under quarantine
One of the five rare baby orangutans recently rescued in Odisha has fallen ill with a recurring fever at the Nandankanan Zoological Park quarantine facility. While experts attribute the illness to environmental stress, specialized veterinary teams are working round the clock to stabilize the young animal.
Madrassas mushrooming near Bangladesh border: Giriraj Singh
Miracle Star, Royal Legacy, Tyche and Don Carlos excel
Philatelist and Opus Dei please
Component failures rarely announce themselves immediately; sometimes a manufacturing decision made years earlier only reveals its consequences after thousands of hours of real-world usage gradually exposes a weakness that initial testing failed to catch. Understanding how manufacturers investigate and learn from these delayed-failure scenarios offers genuine insight into the kind of institutional learning that separates mature, experienced component manufacturers from newer entrants still building this diagnostic capability. The Hero Motors IPO operates within an industry where this long-term failure analysis discipline often determines whether manufacturers genuinely improve over time or repeat similar mistakes across successive product generations. Why Some Failures Only Emerge After Extended Real-World Use Laboratory testing, however rigorous, cannot perfectly replicate every possible real-world usage pattern, environmental condition, or combination of stresses that components might encounter across years of actual field operation. Some failure modes only emerge gradually, through cumulative fatigue, environmental exposure interacting with manufacturing tolerances in unexpected ways, or usage patterns that testing protocols simply didn't anticipate when the component was originally validated. This gap between laboratory testing and real-world performance represents one of the more genuinely difficult challenges within precision manufacturing, since no amount of upfront testing investment can guarantee catching every possible long-term failure scenario. How Mature Manufacturers Actually Investigate Delayed Failures When field failures do emerge, sophisticated component manufacturers typically follow structured investigation processes designed to trace the failure back to its actual root cause rather than accepting superficial explanations: Collecting failed components for detailed forensic examination, identifying exactly how and where the failure originated Cross-referencing failure patterns against production records, identifying whether specific manufacturing batches, equipment, or time periods correlate with failure incidents Reviewing original design specifications against actual failure mechanisms, determining whether the issue reflects a design limitation or a manufacturing execution problem Implementing corrective actions across both existing inventory and future production, addressing root causes rather than merely treating individual failure symptoms Manufacturers that consistently follow this kind of rigorous investigation process typically build increasingly reliable products over successive years, since each investigated failure contributes genuine institutional knowledge that improves future design and manufacturing decisions. Why This Institutional Learning Compounds Meaningfully Over Time Component manufacturers with decades of accumulated failure investigation experience typically possess considerably more sophisticated understanding of subtle failure modes compared to newer manufacturers who simply haven't yet encountered and investigated similar issues across extended product usage periods. This accumulated knowledge, often embedded within experienced engineering teams rather than formally documented anywhere comprehensive, represents a genuinely difficult-to-replicate competitive advantage that newer entrants cannot simply purchase or shortcut regardless of available capital investment. The Difference Between Learning From Failures And Repeating Them Not every manufacturer extracts genuine learning from field failures equally effectively. Some organizations treat failure investigation as a defensive, blame-avoiding exercise rather than genuine root-cause analysis, potentially missing opportunities to prevent similar issues from recurring in future product generations. Manufacturers with strong engineering cultures, where failure investigation gets treated as valuable institutional learning rather than something to minimize or deflect, typically demonstrate measurably improving quality trends over successive years compared to organizations less committed to this kind of rigorous, honest failure analysis. Understanding Post-Bidding Investor Actions For investors who've participated in any public offering's bidding process, attention naturally shifts toward confirming actual allocation outcomes once bidding concludes. Reviewing ipo allotment status typically becomes the primary point of reference during this window, helping applicants understand whether their application succeeded before shares get credited ahead of the company's eventual stock market debut. What Long-Term Quality Trends Actually Reveal Rather than evaluating a component manufacturer purely through current-period quality metrics, examining quality and field failure trends across multiple years often provides more meaningful insight into whether a company has genuinely built the kind of institutional learning capability that continuously improves product reliability, or whether it's simply managing to avoid major issues temporarily without necessarily building the deeper diagnostic and corrective processes needed for sustained long-term quality improvement.
Watch: Tarun Tejpal surrenders: Former Tehelka editor begins 10-year prison sentence
Former Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal has officially surrendered to begin a 10-year prison sentence, marking a dramatic legal turnaround in a high-profile 2013 case. Over a decade after allegations first surfaced in a Goa hotel elevator, the Bombay High Courts conviction and the Supreme Courts refusal to grant further delays have sealed his fate.
Delhi court reserves order on bail plea of Hindutva influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj
Mr. Bhardwaj was detained in Bulandshahr on September 4, hours after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station demanding his arrest over the alleged assault.
Science SARUs manga-faithful reboot gives Masamune Shirows seminal cyberpunk blueprint a timely system update, preserving its unruly intelligence while sharpening its suspicions about consciousness as a commodity
Iran official blasts 'malicious' U.S. block at IAEA meeting
The denial of access to the general conference is something that is creating a precedent which is going to affect everybody, Behrouz Kamalvandi, a senior official from Iran's Atomic Energy Agency said
Central team to visit Bihar on September 16 to assess flood damage
According to the latest figures from the Bihar Disaster Management Department (DMD), the floods affected over 49.36 lakh people in 88 blocks across 15 districts
Celine Dion sings again, and Paris joins in
At her first full concert in six years, the singers return became less a tale of recovery than one of resilience, as 30,000 fans helped carry the songs she could no longer sing alone.
Celine Dion sings again, and Paris joins in
At her first full concert in six years, the singers return became less a tale of recovery than one of resilience, as 30,000 fans helped carry the songs she could no longer sing alone.
The major news headlines of the day and more
West Bengal bypolls: TMC MP urges EC to ensure no eligible voter denied voting right
Nearly 25 lakh appeals have been filed before SIR tribunals over deletion of names from the voter list
Cant force people to eat what you want: Priyank Kharge on BRICS menu
BJP candidate gets one vote in Rajasthan local body polls
Mr. Kailashchand said that he was a voter of Ward 12 but the BJP fielded him from the neighbouring Ward 13 of the Parbatsar municipality in Didwana-Kuchaman district
Rebel Trinamool MP Basunia claims 17 of 20 NCPI MPs to join BJP; fellow rebels, ruling party deny
The BJP sought to distance itself from the claim, with its West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya saying the party would not take in anyone merely because they want to join it
Rebel Trinamool MP Basunia claims 17 of 20 NCPI MPs to join BJP; fellow rebels, ruling party deny
The BJP sought to distance itself from the claim, with its West Bengal unit chief Samik Bhattacharya saying the party would not take in anyone merely because they want to join it
ACB nabs two JKWDC field supervisors for accepting bribe
Srinagar, September 14: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Jammu and Kashmir on Monday trapped and arrested two Field Supervisors of the Jammu & Kashmir Womens Development Corporation (JKWDC) for their alleged involvement in demanding and accepting a bribe in connection with the disbursement of a sanctioned loan. According to the ACB, the action followed a written complaint alleging that Owais Ahmad Khan, Field Supervisor, JKWDC, had demanded illegal gratification from the complainant for facilitating the release of a sanctioned loan amount of 3 lakh under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) Scheme. The complainant, unwilling to pay the bribe, approached the ACB. Following verification of the allegations, the ACB said the demand for illegal gratification was prima facie established. Subsequently, FIR No. 15/2026 was registered at Police Station ACB Srinagar under Sections 7 and 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). A trap team was thereafter constituted to catch the accused. During the trap proceedings, Owais Ahmad Khan was allegedly caught red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe from the complainant in return for facilitating the release and disbursement of the sanctioned loan. During the operation, another JKWDC Field Supervisor, Meiraj-ud-din Sheikh, was also arrested on the spot for his alleged involvement in the offence. The ACB said that the exact role and involvement of Sheikh are being ascertained as part of the ongoing investigation. The tainted money was recovered from the possession of the accused in the presence of independent witnesses, the ACB said. Both accused were subsequently subjected to medico-legal formalities and lodged at Police Station Shaheed Gunj, Srinagar, for safe custody. The ACB said further investigation into the case is going on .
Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh leaders assert right to self-determination
All three parties - the Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru in Wales and the pro-Irish unity Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland - want to break away from the U.K. but have different positions on how and when this might take place.
Religious fervour, creativity, colossal offerings mark Vinayaka Chaturthi celebration in Tamil Nadu
In Madurai, the spotlight fell on the colossal 7-foot monolithic Mukkuruni Vinayakar inside the renowned Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwar Temple
PM Modi promoted Indian languages with pride says Amit Shah
In Pictures: Ganesh Chaturthi 2026
Ganesh Chaturthi is being celebrated in grandeur in various parts of the country on September 13, 2026
Banihal, Sept 14: The ongoing strengthening of the power infrastructure is set to significantly improve electricity supply across Banihal-Gool, with the augmentation of receiving stations, construction of new transmission lines and additional transformation capacity being taken up in a phased manner, MLA Sajjad Shaheen said on Monday. Shaheen was speaking ahead of the dedication to the public of the Khari Receiving Station, whose capacity has been upgraded from 3.15 MVA to 6.3 MVA. He said the Khari augmentation is among the power-sector works that have either been completed or are at an advanced stage, aimed at addressing the long-standing capacity constraints in the constituency. The Banihal Receiving Station has already been augmented from 6.3 MVA to 10.6 MVA, while the Sangaldan Receiving Station has been upgraded from 3.15 MVA to 6.3 MVA, with the newly installed transformer now ready for dedication to the public. Shaheen said work on the new Tethar-Banihal electricity line is also underway, while a new power line from Marog to Ramsu is being taken up to strengthen the existing network and provide greater flexibility in power supply. He further said that the installation of an additional 20 MVA transformer at the Tethar Grid Station is also in the pipeline, which, once commissioned, will further augment the transformation capacity and strengthen the electricity system in the wider area. These projects are being taken forward in phases, but together they represent a major strengthening of the power system in Banihal-Gool. The objective is to improve capacity as well as reliability and, once these works are commissioned, substantially reduce the frequent power interruptions faced by people, Shaheen said. He said the immediate priority was to complete the ongoing works and bring the additional infrastructure into operation at the earliest. The Khari and Sangaldan augmentations have reached the stage of public use, Banihal has already received additional capacity, while new transmission infrastructure and further grid capacity are being added. Once the remaining works are completed, the overall power network will be considerably stronger, he said. Shaheen said these interventions form part of the broader development momentum witnessed across Banihal-Gool during the past one-and-a-half years. A number of projects have been sanctioned across the constituency. Some are already under execution, others are at the tendering or implementation stage, while several are scheduled to commence. Our focus is to ensure that development reaches every part of Banihal-Gool, particularly remote and far-flung areas, he said. He said the development agenda extends beyond the power sector and includes roads, healthcare, education, sports, tourism and public welfare, with the objective of ensuring balanced and comprehensive development across the constituency. Shaheen expressed appreciation for the leadership of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, saying the government's emphasis on remote and difficult areas was helping address long-pending infrastructure deficiencies. Our objective is to build infrastructure that provides lasting relief to people. In the power sector, that means not only increasing capacity but also strengthening the network so that supply becomes more reliable. There is still work ahead, but the direction is clear and the process is moving forward, he said. Reiterating his commitment to equitable, inclusive and comprehensive development, Shaheen said the ultimate aim was to convert long-pending demands into completed projects and tangible improvements in people's daily lives. Executive Engineers PDD Ramban, STD Udhampur, AEEs besides local party functionaries, prominent citizens were present on the occasion.
