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Thought of the month:‘’Success is similar to driving. You will never reach your destination, if your main focus is on what is behind you’’.

J.Ivery

Culture Cultural event motivated flood affected

people of Kashmir Valley

From Editors desk Jammu and Kashmir update is a

unique initiative of Ministry of

Home Affairs to showcase the

positive developments taking

place in the state, The ambit of

the magazine covers all the three

regions of the state with focus on

achievements of the people.

To make it participatory, the

magazine invites success stories/

unique achievements, along

with photographs in the field of

sports, adventure sports, studies,

business, art, culture, positive

welfare initiatives, social change,

religious harmony, education

including pieces of art like

drawings, cartoons, poems,

short stories (not more than 150

words) or jokes on post Box No

30, GPO,New Delhi-110001.

Selected ones will be published

in J&K update.

‘Aagaaz - A New Rise’, a cultural extravaganza to boost the

morale of the people of Kashmir Valley, was recently held

at the Kashmir University in Srinagar.

The event was organised by an entertainment brand called

‘Funtoosh’ and received much applause from the residents.

It showcased unity among the people of the valley through

theatrical items, apart from acting, as an appreciation for

the people who fought the hard times during floods last

year. Acts, musical performances, prayer items, stand up

comedy, documentary film enthralled the audience.

‘Funtoosh’ has been organizing entertainment events in the

valley for the past four years. The group comprising of four

young professionals, Sibath Qureshi, Rayees Mohi-ud-din,

Shehla Arif and Abrar Ali, have emerged as creative event

design and management group of the valley.

Akbar Ali, organiser of the event said that the event

‘’Aagaaz’’ was held to boost the motivation and morale

shown by the people of J&K during the natural calamity

in the state in last September, which had traumatized the

residents of Jammu and Kashmir and had disappointed

them.

Smile

An old lady was making her first flight in airplane. She was nervous and insisted on speaking to pilot before take off. Lady - Will you bring me down safely?Pilot - Don’t worry, I have never left anyone up there yet.

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DEVELOPMENT

Kashmir Valley to get first trauma centre soonPeople in Kashmir Valley would soon get their first ever trauma centre, which would help in providing emergency medical services to road accident victims and other patients.

The construction of the trauma centre in Pattan town of Baramulla district is nearing completion. As per reports, the construction began nearly a decade ago and missed several deadlines. It took two years for the executing agency to construct the trauma centre’s foundation.

According to In-charge of the Centre, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, the centre is very important primarily because it is situated on the highway and will cater to huge population from Sangrama to Narbal, where accidents have been

NSDC Udaan Mega recruitment drives in March 2015Udaan, a special initiative for Jammu & Kashmir, conducted 5 more mega selection drives in Jammu and Kashmir in March 2015. The drives were conducted in Samba, Budgam, Anantnag, Ganderbal and Baramulla.

The drives were conducted in collaboration with Employment Department of the State Government and the Deputy Commissioners/ Development Commissioners of the districts.

There was a great enthusiasm in the youth of J&K during these drives. Nearly 4500 candidates appeared for the selection process and more than half of them were selected by more than 20 corporates who participated in the drives.

Some of the India’s largest corporations like Accenture, Apollo Skills, Aress Software CMC Ltd, Future Learning, and IISD etc. participated in this massive recruitment drive to offer training and employment opportunities for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir.

Six more drives are proposed to be conducted in month of April 2015 in J&K

UDAAN’s Flight and Feedback

Kafiyah Usvub

Kafiyah Usvub, a young Engineering Graduate from Kashmir has shown a way for other aspiring women graduates in the State. She joined Rooman Technologies as an Udaan trainee and even after reservations was able to persuade her family to let her dreams take wings. Now after successful completion of training, she has come out as successful Engineer, bold, confident, willing to accept challenges and ready to learn new concepts in training & other domain’s.

In her own words Kafiyah attributes her success to the Udaan project and the Training partner ie Rooman technologies. She says “ Rooman Technologies & the training provided by them has been the base for whatever I’ve learnt today, as this training gave me a chance to learn & explore the networking domain in which I had keen interest. Thank Allah, NSDC & also Rooman Technologies for supporting me to reach till here & the relationship with these institutions should continue all through my life.”

At the end she has a piece of advice for all the aspirants about the company . “One best thing in ROOMAN is that they will identify & support the talented individual to learn & explore new technologies, to be competitive.”

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Tourists enjoy adventure sports during winter carnival at PatnitopA large number of tourists thronged the two-day winter carnival at the snow-covered Patnitop to enjoy adventure snow sports and cultural programmes. The winter festival was organised by the state Tourism Department in collaboration with the Patnitop Development Authority. Tourists enjoyed a number of snow sports like skiing, sledging, tug of war and snow man building.

The tourist enjoyed snow skating, had fun and appreciated the help they received from organisers. During winters, holidaying crowd from the plains of India and other parts of the country prefer to throng northern states in India to experience snowfall. The inflow of tourists brings good business to local shopkeepers who earn well during any such festival.

Adventure camp organised to woo tourists to valleyThe Tourism Board of the Jammu and Kashmir Government, in collaboration with a private institute, organised a mountaineering camp in the state to woo tourists and promote adventure tourism in the Valley. Mehran Ahmed, a camp instructor, said, “the main aim of organising this camp is to expose the adventure site of Aru valley of Pahalgam among the adventure lovers”.

Aru Valley in Pahalgam, also known as mini-Switzerland, has been a popular destination among foreign tourists for adventure sports. It is replete with exotic flora and fauna and is the starting point for various trekking routes, including the one to Kolahoi Glacier and Sonamarg. The authorities are putting special focus to develop this region.

Thrill seekers from across India participated in the camp and learned a range of activities under the supervision of professional trainers. A participant from New Delhi, Sonia, was positive about the camp’s success and believed that activities like these will help boost tourism in J&K”

TOURISM

very frequent. Dr. Shakeel added that the centre will be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to treat injured people.

Residents of the area are relieved as the basic problem for them was of accessing the hospitals far away, with limited facilities to cater to the needs of huge population.

The two storey trauma centre is expected to start functioning after about four months.

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YOUTH CORNER

Youth in J&K join army in large numbersDefying stereotype, youth in J&K are joining the army in large numbers. At least 179 Kashmiri youth took oath as cadets after completing 42 weeks of stringent training of Recruit Course in Srinagar.

While attending the passing out parade at the majestic Bana Singh Parade Ground at the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regimental Centre, Lieutenant General Subrata Saha (GOC Chinar Corps), said ‘’it was a positive change. Last year, from July to December, 767 youth have been enrolled for the army. These days, whenever recruitment happens, Kashmiri youth take part in it in large number. This is very encouraging. Recently, for 1301 vacancies, more than 25,000 Kashmiri youth had come to be recruited.

The role played by the army in saving the lives of people, stuck in flood waters across the state last year, has helped change people’s mindset’’. He also credited ‘Operation Sadbhavana’ of the army, under which it has been helping people in the areas of education, health care and community development, among others.

The event was attended by the civil and military officers, and the parents and relatives of the cadets, who also expressed happiness over the recruitment of their children.

A cadet, Maqsood Ahmed, expressed happiness over his recruitment and called it a proud moment. He said that the mindset of Kashmiri youth had changed and were happily joining army. There is unemployment and getting job in army was also not easy, according to Ahmad.

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Job fair addresses growing rate of unemploymentThe state government recently organised a job fair in Ganderbal District of J&K to address the growing problem of unemployment. The fair was organised by the District Employment and Counselling Centre in order to make the youth in the District aware of various Government sponsored schemes.

Various Government Departments including Sheep Husbandry, Animal Husbandry, Handloom, Fisheries, Horticulture, Floriculture, Agriculture put up their stalls at the fair which were thronged by many.

An organiser Asia Nazir said that there were not enough jobs and the youth needed to explore various options. According to him, the objective of this fair was to provide means of employment to the unemployed population to stand on their feet. They can benefit from the schemes and join the private sector or work towards self-employment, he added.

During the two-day fair, experts from various Departments gave lectures on the employment opportunities that their respective Departments offer and demonstrated the functions of machinery. The visitors to the fair felt that such job fairs should be held across the state and frequently.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

State administration and youth felicitated for exemplary courage during Kashmir floods

‘’Athwas Kashmir’’ which is a youth oriented trust of Kashmir for those who played an important role in helping the state to recover from floods last year, organised an award function ceremony in Srinagar, in collaboration with some corporate houses to felicitate individuals who showed exemplary courage and selfless service to rescue people during Kashmir floods last year. People from Health and Social Welfare D e p a r t m e n t s

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in the state administration, and volunteers from civil society, were given awards for their contribution during the floods. Award was also given to the Shikara association for lending their boats for the rescue operations during the floods. Senior police and civil officers attended the function.

Vice Chairman of the ‘Athwaas Kashmir’, Nasir Ali Khan, said that the main purpose behind organizing the event was to bring the youth and the government administration closer.

The award function was followed by some musical performances by the local youths who mesmerized the audience by their unique talent.

Army distributes free textbooks to flood-affected children in valleyThe Indian Army distributed free textbooks to children who were hit hard by last year’s floods in Jammu and Kashmir. The initiative was part of ‘Operation Sadbhavana’ of the Indian Army under which it helps people in the areas of education, health care and community development, among others.

More than 200 sets of books of class IX and X were distributed among the children at a function in Srinagar.

Brigadier (Info Sys), Chinar Corps, Brigadier Adil Ali Mahmood said “The field of education was hard-hit by the floods and it is our aim to bring it back on the track. we tracked the needy children in Srinagar from not so well-to-do families and are trying to help them as much as we can,” Students also thanked the army for its noble gesture.

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RNI Regn. No. DELMUL/2010/35730Printed by: Chandu Press, D-97 Shakarpur New Delhi-92

Editor : SulekhaRequest for free copy of Jammu & Kashmir Update newsletter indicating the language preferred (English/Urdu/Hindi)

or suggestions/feedback, if any, may be emailed to : jammuandkashmirupdate@gmail.comJammu & Kashmir Update is also available on the web at jammuandkashmirupdate.com and mha.nic.in

Published by : Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

Do you know?

Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar ascended the Mughal throne at the age of 13 years.

The month that was…

J&K gets new governmentMufti Muhammad Sayeed took oath as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on March 1, as the state got a coalition Government. PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was administered oath of office by Governor N N Vohra in a ceremony that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP leader Nirmal Kumar Singh was sworn-in as the state’s Deputy Chief minister. The swearing-in ceremony was also attended by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, BJP chief Amit Shah, veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani and others.

J&K Governor, CM extend Holi greetingsJammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra and Chief Minister Mufti Muhamad Sayeed greeted the people on the occasion of Holi with a hope that the festival of colours will help maintain peace, progress and prosperity in the state. In his message, the Governor observed that the celebration of festival, an important part of our rich cultural heritage, strengthens the bonds of brotherhood, love and amity. Wishing a happy Holi to the people, the Governor prayed for their well-being and prosperity. The Chief Minister also extended warm greetings to the people of the state on the auspicious occasion of Holi.

Indian Army conducts swine flu awareness campThe Indian Army launched a drive to spread awareness about the deadly H1NI virus in the Kashmir Valley. According to reports, at least 11 people have died due to the virus in the state. The army held an interactive session for both residents and students, giving an overview of the symptoms of HINI and preventive steps that needed to be taken to combat its spread.

J-K Govt. to purchase additional power for valleyThe Jammu and Kashmir Government decided to purchase an additional 60 Megawatt power from the central government to meet the electricity demands of the Kashmir Valley. The decision was taken at a recent meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh, who holds the power portfolio, Minister for Finance Dr Haseeb Drabu, and Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, Sandeep Naik, attended the meeting. The Chief Minister also sought a comprehensive presentation on the power sector in the state, detailing ongoing and future projects, transmission and distribution scenario, up-gradation process, and proposed reforms.

Export awareness programme held at Jammu UniversityAn export awareness programme for first generation entrepreneurs was organized at the Business School, University of Jammu. The programme was organized by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the JU Business School. It encompassed a clump of lectures, which dwelled upon export awareness. A special address was delivered by Sourabh Bhagat, Secretary, Industries & Commerce, wherein he made students aware of the resources produced within the state and its contribution to overall Indian exports. Experts apprised the students about the need to realize their true potential and calibre and to exploit the opportunities existing in the state for Cross LoC trade and export promotion.