15Thursday September 27, 2018

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: The StratfirstIndia In collaboration withCentral University ofJammu and University ofJammu organised Think 1stConvention on theme 'GlobalRanking in HigherEducation: Issues andChallenges'.

The focus of the conventionwas to outline strategies andimprove world rankings ofIndian institutions anddevelop the Indian RankingIndex that will become abenchmark in itself. TheVice Chancellors ofUniversities in northernIndia participated in theevent.

On the occasion, Prof. V.SChauhan, Chairman,National Assessment andAccreditation Council,Bangalore was Chief Guest.Prof Chahuan deliberatedupon different issues facedby higher education in India.He discussed at length whyIndian Universities are notfiguring among top 100Universities of the World

which is primarily onaccount of low gross enrol-ment ratio as compared totop 100 Universities of theworld where gross enrolmentratio is above 50 per cent.He impressed upon the audi-ence that though we have along way to achieve worldranking still we have to cele-brate the success IndianHigher Education hasachieved since independence.

Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, for-mer Vice Chancellor,University of Jammu, whileparticipating in the discus-

sion, presented the Vision2030 Document that pro-vides a roadmap to get 50Indian institutions rankamong the Global Best 500.He informed that the meetwill be followed by hand-holding of select institutionsto enable them to earn aplace in the global rankingsystem.

Prof. Mehraj-ud-din, ViceChancellor, CentralUniversity of Kashmiremphasised on digital learn-ing while Prof. Manoj Dhar,Vice Chancellor, University

of Jammu discussed atlength about flipped learn-ing.

Prof. Talat Ahmed, ViceChancellor, University ofKashmir briefed about roleof leadership in transform-ing higher education land-scape in India. He furtherdiscussed about resourcemobilisation challengeswhich are seriously impedingthe growth of state HEIs.

Earlier, Prof Ashok Aima,VC, CUJ briefed the audi-ence about the differenttechnical sessions to bechaired by eminent panelistfrom industry and academiathroughout the day. Heinformed that theConvention will be spreadacross three brainstormingsessions, each chaired byeminent educationist,besides the plenary and thevaledictory sessions.

Vice Chancellors and repre-sentatives of variousUniversities including ProfKuldeep Chand Agnihotri,VC, CUHP, Mamta RaniAgarwal, Joint Secretary,

UGC, Prof Anju Bhasin,CLUJ, Prof. J. Massarat,VC, BGSBU, Prof. JavedAhmed, VC, CLUK, Prof.Sanjay Srivastva, VC,Manav Rachan University,Prof. Sanjay Modi,Executive Dean, LovelyProfessional University,Sanjay Kachroo, StratfirstIndia, representatives fromEPSI (Education PromotionSociety of India), QSRanking, BostonConsulting, Microsoft, E&Yand PWC are among thosewho participated in the con-vention.

The programme was coor-dinated by Prof AlkaSharma, Prof. Jaya Bhasin,Dr. Gowhar Rasool, VarunAbrol, Dr. Salil Seth, Dr.Bacha Babu, Dr. ShahidMushtaq, Dr. Sanjay Kumarand Ginni Dogra under theoverall supervision of ProfMinakshi Kilam, Registrar,University of Jammu.

Prikshat Kaul proposedvote of thanks. Nancy Jainconducted the proceeding ofthe programme.

CUJ hosts Think 1st Convention on Global Ranking in Higher Education

VC CUJ, Prof Ashok Aima speaking during a programme.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Jammu andKashmir National PanthersParty (JKNPP) onWednesday staged protestagainst the hike in fuel prices.

Led by Neeraj Gupta, ZonalPresident JKNPP, the partyworkers assembled atTransport Yard Narwal andraised slogans against thecontinuous price hike in fuelprices.

Gupta said that the BJPGovernment has no controlover the price hike of petroland diesel.

"The Central Governmenthas no policy to overcome thesituation. Their statementregarding the rise in economyis just an eye wash. The costof petrol has reached at Rs 90above which itself proves thatthe government has nothingto do with the problems of acommon masses," Gupta said.

Gupta said presently thecommon man is living astressful life bearing burdenof demonetization, GST, pricehike of petroleum productsand daily need items. He saidthat if these are the so called

Achhe Din as promised by thePrime Minister NarendraModi then we wish we couldget back our bad days whenwe can have a stress free sleepnights.

Gupta said that if theCentral Government has nopolicy to control fuel pricesthen it has no right to sit inpower.

Among those who joined theprotest include Sonu,Parmjeet Singh, AmarChand, Ramesh Kumar,Tarsem, Pali, SimranjeetSingh and Sanjay.

JKNPP protests against hike in fuel prices

JKNPP activists staging protest at Jammu.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Director Food,Civil Supplies andConsumer Affairs(FCS&CA), Jammu, AmitSharma cautioned unrulyelements in tourism indus-try against malpracticessuch as duping and harass-ing innocent tourists by sell-ing fake products and servic-es and offering costly pack-ages. He mentioned thatsoon, a joint strategy shallbe devised in collaborationwith Tourism Directoratefor surprise market check-ing and eliminating such ele-ments who result into drain-ing out of tourists from J&Kand earn bad name for theState. He was speaking atthe three-day World TourismDay celebrations at MainCampus of CentralUniversity of Jammu today.

Director F,CS&CA wasinvited as the Chief Guest todeliver a keynote address onthe occasion of WorldTourism Day wherein tech-nological interventions andfast-changing scenario hadto be explained viz-a-viz

ever-growing tourism mar-ket of the World. He talkedabout various models espe-cially SaaS (Software as aService) which is highlyprevalent and in-demandthese days which should beintroduced with innovationin highly fluctuating andvolatile tourism industrythese days. Therefore,youngsters bedded to main-tain their focus and getinvolved in fair businesspractices so that there isleast GovernmentIntervention and all privateplayers act as messengers

earning lot of goodwill andrepititive interest amongsttourists thronging into J&K.

Amit further explainedthat J&K has been bestowedwith the blessings of MataVaishno Devi ji Shrinewherein almost one crorepilgrimage tourists visitevery year and the youngignited minds in TourismSector must implementstrategies to convert theminto regular tourists andensure that they extendtheir stay in our State so as

to realise full tourism poten-tial here and result intogains for the industry. Someadjoining areas like DuduBasantgarh, Moungri,Pancheri, Seoj DharMeadows offer enchantingVirgin beauty whereintourists can be divertedapart from visiting world-famous tourist spots of theState with the introductionof heli-tourism, adventure-tourism, nature/eco-tourismand Home-Stay models.

Central University Teamled by Dr Amit Gangotiafelicitated Amit Sharma forinvigorating young mindsespecially during a qualityQuestion & Answer sessionwhich was followed immedi-ately after delivering keynoteaddress by him. OtherResource persons who gavevaluable contributions along-side with him were also hon-oured include Sanjay Jena,CEO Tourist Mart andAbhishek Gupta, a third-gen-eration tourism businessexpert from the State.

CUJ World Tourism Day celebrations:Amit vouches for fair trade practices

Director FCS&CA, Jammu, Amit Sharma being felicitated during the programme.

STATE TIMES NEWSSRINAGAR: The DirectorGeneral of Police, DilbagSingh expressed gratitude toGovernor, Satya Pal Malik,Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh, Advisor (K)to Governor, K Vijay Kumar,Union Home SecretaryRajiv Gauba, ChiefSecretary J&K, B.V.RSubrahmanyam, PrincipalSecretary Home, R.KGoyal, and other officers ofState and CentralGovernment for increasingthe remuneration of theSPOs working in the J&KPolice.

Union Home Ministry videletter No.13030/36/2018-K-II dated September 26,2018 has informed the StateGovernment that the pro-posal of the StateGovernment regardingenhancement of monthlyhonorarium for SPOs ofJ&K has been consideredand the Ministry of HomeAffairs has decided that theSPOs with five years of serv-ice will get Rs 9,000 and

those with 15 years will getremuneration of Rs 12,000.

The Union Home Ministryhas informed that the revi-sion of remuneration willcome into effect immediatelyi.e. September 26, 2018.The Home Ministry hastaken this decision in view ofthe proposal of the StateGovernment which was sub-mitted by the ChiefSecretary J&K to it, inrecognition of the commend-able services of the SPOsworking here.

Dilbag Singh hasexpressed his happiness andhas conveyed his heartfeltthanks to the Union HomeMinistry and the StateGovernment for fulfillingthis demand of enhance-ment of remuneration of theSPOs. He has said that thisgesture of the State andCentral Government will goa long way in boosting themorale of the SPOs engagedwith the J&K Police andwho have been workingshoulder to shoulder withJ&K Police personnel.

DGP hails Governor, Union Home Minister forincreasing remuneration of SPOs

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: DivisionalCommissioner Jammu,Sanjeev Verma on Wednesdaychaired a meeting of DeputyCommissioners to discuss thedisbursement of land compen-sation amount underPMGSY.

Deputy CommissionerUdhampur, Reasi, Kishtwar,ACR Ramban, Doda alongwith other concerned officersattended the meeting throughvideo conference.

Deputy Commissioner

Udhampur informed thatwork on 126 road projects isin progress in the district,while 85 final awards havebeen issued for land compen-sation against which they havereceived Rs. 28.5 crore for dis-bursement. He informedthat the process of disburse-ment of compensation to theland owners is on. The meet-ing was informed that totalseven awards are pendingwhereas 90 awards have beenissued in district Ramban.

The Div Com asked the dis-trict administrations to timelydisburse the land compensa-tion amount to the beneficiar-ies in their respective district.

Div Com reviews disbursement ofland compensation under PMGSY

Divisional Commissioner, Sanjeev Verma chairing a meeting of Deputy Commissioners through video conference.

STATE TIMES NEWSSRINAGAR: PrincipalSecretary Health andMedical Education, AtalDulloo on Wednesday con-vened a meeting here toreview the physical andfinancial progress of vari-ous programmes underNational Health Mission inthe State.

Mission Director NHM,J&K, Bhupinder Kumar;Financial Advisor and CAO,SHS, Khem Raj; JointDirector (P&S) H&ME,Madan Lal; ProgrammeManagers from StateHealth Society, NHM, J&Kand representatives fromJ&K Medical SuppliesCorporation, Directorate ofHealth Services Kashmirand Development Partner

NIPI-Jhpiego attended themeeting.

The meeting was briefedin detail regarding variousprogrammes under imple-mentation in the State likeMaternal Health, ChildHealth, RBSK, ASHA,NUHM, Quality Assurance,RKSK, Communicable &N o n - C o m m u n i c a b l eDisease ControlProgramme.

Principal Secretary direct-ed for implementation offree drugs and free diagnos-tics policy in all the publichealth facilities of the Statein letter and spirit for betterpatient care and to reduceout of pocket expenditure.

The Principal Secretarydirected for the early startof dialysis services in othernine approved districts ofthe State.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: Galaxy of stars paidrich tributes to SahityaAkademi Awardee KunwarViyogi, also known the 'Fatherof Dogri Sonnets' as theydescended Jammu for theannual Kunwar Viyogi Utsav-2018.

Cultural activities organisedby Kunwar Viyogi MemorialTrust were held across the cityas people were treated to themelody of Dogri music, songs,poetry and art by iconic andcelebrated artists, who broughtto life the writings of KunwarViyogi in their unique andinnovative artistic interpreta-tions, leaving fans spellbound.Fans cheered as YouTube sen-sation Siddharth Slathia tookcentre stage and croonedKunwar Viyogi's popular Dogrisongs Tu Bagune Di Kudi andRasam Riwaz at the jampacked General Zorawar SinghAuditorium.

Composed and sung by thetalented singer, the songs wereSiddharth's tribute to KunwarViyogi, who has penned morethan 600 sonnets in Hindi,English and Dogri.

After paying tributes to thecelebrated writer, Siddharth

entertained the audience withpopular Bollywood numbersand received a standing ovationfrom his fans.

The performance was part ofthe Trust's finale - Innovationin Art 2018 event that also sawinternational singer and com-poser Monica Dogra enthrallfans with her melodious voice.

Niece of Dogri folk musicsinger Prakash Sharma,Monica also paid glowing trib-utes to Kunwar Viyogi bysinging his very famous compo-sition Kangrel. She also recitedKunwar Viyogi's EnglishSonnet Dew and unveiled theTrust's forthcoming documen-tary Voice of Soldiers. ShiyasiGopinath, a 23-year-oldBharatanatyam dancer was

proud recipient of this year'sKunwar Viyogi Innovation inArt Award for adaptingKunwar Viyogi's songs 'TuBagune Di Kaudi' and Kangrelin Bharatanatyam dance form.

Kavita Sang Yaar Beli -Poetry Jam with Friends wasthe opening act of the eventthat saw convergence of awardwinning poets - AyushmanJamwal and Lalit Mangotrawith Dogri iconic singerJatinder Singh Jamwal androck singer Manvi Gupta,joined later by Shriyasi jam-ming to their poetic verses, per-formed through recitations,songs and interpreted throughdance forms.

While Manvi opened the actwith Kunwar Viyogi's song

Dosti, Ayushman Jamwal, alsothe curator of Kunwar ViyogiUtsav - 2018, recited versesfrom his recently launchedbook The Silent Sun.

Lalit Mangotra recited andinterpreted Viyogi's moodthrough the celebrated writerbook of Dogri Sonnets -Pehliyaan Banga andrenowned Dogri singerJatinder Singh Jamwalenthralled the people withViyogi's 'Tu Bagune Di Kudi'.

Art lovers were treated tosome exquisite cartoons andcaricatures by Times of India'srenowned cartoonist UdayShankar, who showcased hisart work at the LotsavaRinchen Bzangpo Art Gallery,Zorawar Singh Auditorium,University of Jammu, alongwith works of celebrated artistsRashmi Jamwal and JyotiGupta.

Live Art Workshop was alsoconducted by Heritage Schoolart teacher Anoop Gupta.

Following the art exhibition,Lalit Katha awards were pre-sented to students, who werealso treated to Charles Dickensplay 'Great Expectations'directed by Aarushi ThakurRana at General ZorawarSingh Auditorium.

Tributes paid to Kunwar Viyogi

Participants during the programme at Jammu.

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: The state adminis-tration in order to give benefitto a particular party in theensuing Local Bodies electionsis hell bent to flout norms,rules, procedures and laws.

This was stated by HarishGupta, Independent CandidateWard No 10, Pacca Danga,Jammu, while addressing apress conference here onWednesday.

Briefing media persons here,Gupta said one such glaringexample is the NominationPaper (Form 6A) is printedonly for male members andalso for the candidates of theparty and not for independ-ents.

"To add further, theReturning Officers of all theJammu MunicipalCorporations Wards are unnec-essarily harassing the candi-dates by demanding irrelevantdocuments and things which

are not compulsory forNomination Papers of candi-dates such as affidavit as perspecimen only attested by aMagistrate of Ist Class, Copyof Bank Account, CharacterCertificate, QualificationCertificates (which are not atall required), apart from thebasic documents required forfiling nominations," he added.He also alleged that RO ofWard No 10, 3 and 4 biasstarted scrutiny process with-

out video-grapy in defiance tothe Supreme Court of Indiaruling.

Advocate Sanjeev KumarSareen, who attended the officeof the Returning Officer, WardNo 10, 03 and 04 at 10:55 AMas Counsel for an IndependentCandidate Harish Gupta, saidthat only two candidates fromWard No 10 including HarishGupta were present for scruti-ny. "After waiting for 15 min-utes, the Returning Officer

gave a 30 minutes speech inwhich nothing related to scruti-ny was mentioned. At 11:45AM he said all sevenNomination Forms are accept-ed without scrutiny and with-out giving an opportunity tothe candidates to check thefiles of the candidates so thatthey might challenge if theremay be any discrepancy," healleged.

"On being objected bySanjeev Kumar Sareen,Advocate, the ReturningOfficer called the police andadministrative officers andthreatened him and then with-out scrutiny accepted the nom-inations of all the candidatesand without giving opportunityto Sanjeev Kumar Sareen andother candidates to scrutinizethe nomination papers of allcandidates, clearly indicatingState Administration's biasedattitude for the reasons all canimagine easily," he alleged.

‘Administration flouting norms to benefit particular party’

Harish Gupta, Independent Candidate Ward No 10 flankedby Advocate Sanjeev Kumar Sareen briefing media.

Dulloo directs time-boundcompletion of NHM targets

STATE TIMES NEWSJAMMU: 28-day long indefi-nite chain hunger strikelaunched by the Teachers JointAction Committee (TJAC) wascalled off here on Wednesday.

The decision was taken up byChairman TJAC AbdulQayoom Wani, Vinod SharmaState President ReT TeachersForum, Ganesh Khajuria StateGeneral Secretary JKTF andGazi Abdul Aziz ChairmanReT Forum after a meetingheld between the GovernorSatya Pal Malik and AbdulQayoom Wani. In the meetinggovernment agreed to imple-ment 7th Pay Commission infavour of 41,000 teachers andmasters of Jammu andKashmir.

Advisor to Governor,Khurshid Ahmed Ganie visitedthe venue of hunger strike atSrinagar and offered juice tothe fasting teachers, whereasDirector School Education,Jammu, Rakesh Sangral visit-

ed the venue of hunger strike atPress Club Jammu and offeredthe juice to the agitating teach-ers.

The TJAC leaders hoped thatthe government will also comeup with delinking of SSA salaryfrom MHRD to State Budgetsoon as the committee isalready working for the same.

Others who were present atthe last day of hunger strikeinclude Sukhdev SinghSumbria, Rajesh Jamwal, RajKumar, Kuldeep Singh,Goutam Singh, MaheshKumar, Reshi Singh Rana,Ravinder Singh, Navjot Singh,Rajinder Sharma, SurinderManhas, Vijay Kumar, RakeshSingh, P.D Singh, PankajVerma, Manohar Choudhury,Rajeet Singh, SurinderSharma, Vishal Sharma,Ravinder Chib, Ravi Sharma,Ashwani Sharma, SurjeetSingh, Gurdayal, SureshSharma, Bodh Raj, Anil Dograand Harbhajan.

Principal Secretary H&ME, Atal Dulloo chairing a meeting.

TJAC calls off indefinitechain hunger strikeSTATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Justice TashiRabstan on Wednesdayupheld the PSA of MajidGulzar, Over Ground Worker(OGW) of Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) and dis-missed his petition challeng-ing detention under PSA.

While dismissing the peti-tion, Justice Rabstan observedthat secessionist, extremistand terrorist activities arechallenge for law enforcement."By indulging in such activi-ties, organised groups and/orindividuals, trained, inspiredand supported by fundamen-talists and anti-Indian ele-ments are trying to destabilisethe country. This new breed ofmenace was hitherto unheardof. Extremism, fanatism, ter-rorism is definitely a criminalact, but it is much more thanmere criminality. Today, thegovernment is charged withthe duty of protecting theunity, integrity, secularism andsovereignty of India from ter-

rorists, both from outside andwithin borders", the courtobserved.

According to the police file,the detainee is an OGW ofbanned outfit LeT. Grounds ofdetention revealed thatdetainee developed contactswith terrorists of HM outfit in2013 and started working asits OGW and provided them allsorts of assistance. Detenu isshown to have been apprehend-ed by security forces in 2014 atSopore near Ahad Baba cross-ing and one hand grenade wasrecovered from his possessionand as a sequel whereof, caseFIR No.170/2014 underSections 3/4 Explosives Actwas registered in Police StationSopore. He was, however, lateron enlarged on bail and chargesheet was produced before thecourt of law. Grounds of deten-tion also revealed that inDecember 2017, detaineedeveloped contacts with LeTterrorists, who motivated himto work for LeT. In the monthof January 2018, detainee is

said to have come in contactwith terrorists of HM outfitthrough his friend, namely,Nameez Ahmad Yatoo residentof Nowpora and on his advice,detainee arranged transportfor four terrorists of HM outfitfrom Handwara to NowporaSopore and terrorists stayed inthe house of Nameez AhmadYatoo for three days anddetainee is said to havearranged all requirements forHM terrorists. He is shown tohave transported two terror-ists of LeT outfit from Soporearea to Kupwara and alsoarranged their shelter inKupwara. In June, 2018, hewas apprehended by policecomponent Sopore/CRPF atAmargarh near RailwayCrossing along with his twoassociates and some incrimi-nating material in the shape ofdocuments were recoveredfrom his possession and fromthe possession his associatesfor which case FIRNo.49/2018 was registered inPolice Station Tarzoo.

HC upholds PSA of OGW