Canada’s first judge of colour in Supreme Court has roots in Gujarat

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The Himalayan MailRegd No. JM-38 RNI No. 66860/96 Vol. 26 No. 166 12 Pages | Rs. 2.00JAMMU, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021

www.himalayanmail.com

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CMYK

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday extendedwishes to people, particu-larly the Kashmiri Panditcommunity, on the occasionof Jyeshtha Ashtami.

In Jammu and Kashmir,Jyestha Ashtami is cele-brated by people at theshrine of Kheer Bhawani inTullamula in honour oftheir patron goddess Rag-nya Devi.

'Kheer' (rice boiled inmilk) is prepared on thisday as a food offering.

"On the auspicious occa

PM wishes peopleon Jyeshtha

Ashtami

With one more patientsuccumbing to COVID-19,Ladakh's overall death tolldue to the disease hasreached 200, officials saidFriday, as 22 new infectionspushed the case tally to19,704.

However, the number ofactive cases in the regiondropped to 482 - 348 in Lehand 134 in Kargil - as 77more patients recoveredduring a 24-hour period,

Ladakh's Covid deathtoll reaches 200,total cases 19,704

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A dumper today skiddedoff the road and rolled downinto a deep gorge nearChamalwas in Banihal areaof Ramban, resulting in thedeath of its driver.

Official sources said adumper, which was en-gaged in the highway con-struction work, rolled downinto a 400-ft deep gorgenear Chamalwas.

The driver was criticallyinjured in the mishap fol-lowing which he was shiftedto the sub-district hospital,

Driver killed as dumper falls off road

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NEW DELHI, JUNE18: The Ministry of Educa-tion is expected to soon de-cide on conducting the tworemaining editions of the

engineering entrance ex-amination JEE-Mains andthe medical entrance testNEET in August, accordingto officials.

"The situation is being re-viewed to decide on theschedule of the pending edi-tions of JEE-Mains andwhether NEET-UG can beconducted on August 1," asenior official said.

From the current acade

NEW DELHI, JUNE18: Over a month after theBSF recovered arms andammunition dropped by aPakistani drone in Jammu,another Pakistani drone wasnoticed in Dera Baba Nanakof Punjab's Gurdaspur dis-trict on Friday, said BSFsources.

According to sources, thedrone was noticed by BSFtroops at around 4:30 am to-day.

BSF fired upon the dronenear BOP Aabad after whichthe Pakistani drone wentback, they said.

They further stated that asearch operation has beenlaunched in the area.

"Today around 4:30 am, aPakistani drone was noticedin Dera Baba Nanak area byBSF troops. BSF fired upon

Decision onpending

entrance examsJEE, NEET soon

Pak drone noticed,fired upon

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Himalayan Mail News JAMMU, JUNE 18

A labourer was killed andthree others were injuredafter the pillar of an under-construction bridge col-lapsed near the bank ofriver Maru Sudar atYaniewan Tunder in Kisht-war district of Jammu to-day.

Official sources said thepillar of an under-construc-tion bridge collapsed atYaniewan while the workwas in progress on it.

NEW DELHI, JUNE18: India on Fridayrecorded 62,480 new casesof Covid and 1,587 fatalitiesin the last 24 hours, lowestin the last two months, ac-cording to data released bythe Union Health and Fam-ily Welfare Ministry.

This is for the first time inlast two months that thedeath tally has come downbelow the mark of 2,000.And it is the 11th consecu-tive day when India has re-ported less than one lakhnew Covid cases.

On June 15, Indiarecorded 60,461 cases, low-est since March 29.

The overall tally of Covid-19 cases in the country now

NEW DELHI, JUNE18: The Union Health Min-istry has urged all states andUnion Territories to reviewin detail and ensure promptsteps for the safety and well-being of healthcare workerswhile strictly implementingthe amended Epidemic Dis-ease Act.

Healthcare workers arethe most crucial resourcesin Covid-19 managementon all fronts, said Joint Sec-retary in the Union HealthMinistry Lav Agarwal in aletter to additional chief sec-retaries, principal secre-taries and health secretariesof all states and Union Terri

JAMMU/NEWDELHI, JUNE 18: Re-viewing the developmentprojects in J&K in a meetingwith LG Manoj Sinha andtop officers of the UT andthe central government inthe Union capital today,Home Minister said that all-round development andwelfare of J&K people 'is thetop priority of Modi govern-ment'.

The meeting was also at-tended by National SecurityAdvisor (NSA) Ajit Doval,Union Home Secretary AjayBhalla, Intelligence BureauDirector Arvind Kumar,R&AW chief Samant Ku-mar Goel, CRPF DirectorGeneral Kuldeep Singh andDGP Dilbag Singh.

He appreciated the 90 percent reach of the centralgovernment's schemes inJ&K and congratulated LG

Sinha and his team for the76 pc COVID-19 vaccina-tion in the UT and 100 pc infour districts.

The Union Home Minis-ter impressed upon speedycompletion of the PrimeMinister's development

package, flagship and iconicprojects and industrial de-velopment projects.

He directed to ensure thebenefits of the refugee pack-age to all the refugees fromPoJK, West Pakistan andthose who had to migrate

from Kashmir to Jammu atthe earliest.

Shah asked for the com-pletion of many other devel-opment schemes includingthe Prime Minister's Devel-opment Package and indus

Himalayan Mail News JAMMU, JUNE 18

Three days after log-ging nine Covid deaths,J&K recorded eight fa-talities in a span of 24hours, taking the toll to4,234, besides report-ing a daily spike of 671new positive cases(Jammu division - 226,Kashmir - 445) as a re-sult of which the num-ber of people infectedwith the disease in the

UT rose to 3,10,688.According to the govern-

ment bulletin on NovelCorona Virus, four Covidpatients died in Jammu re-gion and four in Kashmirsince last evening as a resultof which the UT tollmounted to 4,234.

Of the total 3,10,688cases, 10,094 are active pos-itive (Jammu division -3,543, Kashmir - 6,551) and2,96,360 have recovered(Jammu division - 1,12,375,Kashmir - 1,83,985).

Jammu district recorded

53 cases, Udhampur - 11,Rajouri - 24, Doda - 46,Kathua - 12, Samba - 2,Kishtwar - 20, Poonch - 16,Ramban - 36 and Reasi - 6,according to official mediabulletin on coronavirus.

Jammu district now has52,187 cases (1,087 are ac-tive positive, 49,981 haverecovered, 1,119 have died),Udhampur - 11,053 (161 areactive positive, 10,761 haverecovered, 131 have died),Rajouri - 10,525 (301 are ac-tive, 10,012 have recovered,

NEW DELHI, JUNE18 : The Congress on Fridaydemanded that the govern-ment make a full disclosureof the nature of blackmoney and names of the in-dividuals who have stashedit in Swiss banks, and askedit to bring a white paper onhow much of it has beenbrought back to the countryin the last seven years.

Congress spokespersonGourav Vallabh said thegovernment should alsocome out with a completelist of measures that it hasundertaken to check thestashing of black money inforeign banks.

The demand came afterSwitzerland's national bank

-- Swiss National Bank(SNB) -- released data offunds parked in Swissbanks that showed that de-posits by Indians increasedto 286 per cent in 2020, thehighest in the last 13 years.

Congress's chiefspokesperson Randeep Sur-jewala also demanded an-swers from Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on hispromise to bring back blackmoney and shared a videoof the PM before he as-sumed power.

"Money deposited inSwiss banks is now Rs20,700 crore. 286 per centincrease between the year2019-20, the maximummoney in Swiss banks in

last 13 years."Modiji please reply --

What happened to thepromise to bring back blackmoney in three years? It'sbeen seven years now. Isthere no will power ormoney belongs to friends?"he asked on Twitter.

Vallabh said the dividebetween the rich and thepoor has widened in thecountry under the Modigovernment as this disclo-sure comes at a time whenthe Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy (CMIE)says close to 97 per cent In-dians became poorer duringthe last year and on theother hand, the data of

Himalayan Mail News JAMMU, JUNE 18

The J&K government to-day announced to recruit800 Sub-Inspectors (SIs),providing an opportunity toyoung job seekers of the UTto join police force.

LG Manoj Sinha ap-proved the proposal in thisregard as part of his admin-istration's efforts to give afresh impetus to the recruit-ment process that hadslowed down in J&K due tothe ongoing Covid pan-demic.

He also approved the se-lection process of all non-gazetted level posts in all thethree police departments, iepolice, prisons and fire &emergency services depart-ments through services se-lection board (SSB).

This, according to offi-cials, would ensure more

transparency and fairnessin the overall recruitmentprocess. The officialstermed this mode of selec-tion process as a 'historic re-form'.

The selections to the postswill be based on a writtenand a physical test. Thecommittee for physical en-durance test shall be consti-tuted by SSB in consultationwith the government andthe number of people to becalled for physical fitnesstest will be based on the pat-tern adopted by some statesand Union Territories. Theentire process for fitnesstest shall be duly video-graphed for the purpose oftransparency.

To address the longstanding issues of seniority,hampering the career pro-gression of police officials atdifferent levels, now a com-mon seniority of the SIs re-cruited against the direct re-

cruitment vacancies in thearmed and the executivewings through a combinedexamination will be main-tained for ensuring smoothcareer progression of thepolice officers.

The announcement of re-cruitment of 800 SIs comestwo days after the LG an-nounced that the UT ad-ministration is movingahead in the direction of ex-pediting the process for re-cruitment of 25,000promised jobs in the publicsector and government de-partments to empower theyouth of Jammu and Kash-mir.

He said that around18,000 posts have been ad-vertised by Services Selec-tion Board for recruitmentin various departments andmore posts are being iden-tified gradually.

Outlining that the youths

Himalayan Mail News JAMMU, JUNE 18

The highly revered MelaKheer Bhawani was todaycelebrated with religiousfervour and gaiety at Tul-mula in Ganderbal districtof the valley strictly in ac-cordance with the Covidguidelines.

The temple was beauti-fully and tastefully deco-rated with flowers andbuntings. The annual event,one of the important festi-vals of Kashmiri Hindus, iscelebrated on Zyestha Ash-

tami which fell on June 18(Friday) this year.

Over 2,000 devotees,

NEW DELHI, JUNE18: The Cabinet Committeeon Accommodation (CCA)is likely to approve the pro-posal to allow Congressleader and former leader ofopposition in the RajyaSabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad,to retain his official bunga-low till September-end.

Azad's term as the leaderof opposition in the UpperHouse ended in Februarythis year. Sources said asper the norm, he was al-lowed to stay in the bunga-low till March-end. Theyadded Azad had ap-proached the Rajya Sabhasecretariat seeking reten-tion of the 5, South AvenueLane house till September.

Sources said since the ac-commodation was underthe general pool managedby the housing urban affairsministry, his request wasforwarded to the ministryfor consideration. "Sincethe norms don't allow suchextension, only the CCA iscompetent to give any suchapproval," said a source.

The CCA is also likely toapprove retention and ex-

facto approvals for allot-ment of government ac-commodation to a fewheads of government bod-ies, serving and former bu-reaucrats and other em-ployees.

A career politician, Azadhad successful innings inhis home state of Jammuand Kashmir and also in theCentre. Leaders across par-ties have appreciated hisqualities. But Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi's appre-ciation of Azad in the RajyaSabha on his last day hadcaught the nation's atten-tion. Recalling Azad's sup-port after a terror attack in2007 in the valley, Modi

Himalayan Mail News JAMMU, JUNE 18

Ex-deputy CM KavinderGupta today said that themassive development doneby PM Modi-led centralgovernment has made BJPthe first choice of people inthe country.

After kick-starting black-topping work at an esti-mated cost of Rs 50 lakh inWard No 50 of ChanniHimmat, he said that due tothe unbiased and consistentdevelopment done by theCentre, the countrymen'like BJP the most'. In fact,

the party had become firstchoice of people across thecountry, he added.

"Under Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's regime, nosegment in the UT of J&K

will face developmentdearth or discrimination asensuring peace andprogress in the region is theprime motive of the govern

Amit Shah chairs meet on J&K with NSA, heads of R&AW, IB & CRPF

Reviews dev projects in J&K, says people's welfare top priority of Modi govt

J&K to recruit 800 police SIs;LG approves proposal

SSB to carry out selection process

Mela Kheer Bhawani celebrated withreligious fervour, gaiety at Tulmula

Govt likely to allow Azad to retainofficial bungalow till Sept-end

Development has made BJP people's first choice: Kavinder

Strictly implement Epidemic Disease Act:Centre to states, UTs

India logs lowestCovid deaths in 2 months

Pillar of under-construction bridge collapses; 1 killed,

3 injured

At 8, J&K records lowest deathcount in 54 days; toll 4,234

671 new +ve cases reported, active cases rise to 3,10,688

Bring white paper on black moneystashed abroad: Cong to govt

ISLAMABAD, JUNE18: With India stepping upits diplomatic activities inAfghanistan's peace processas the US prepares for thetroops withdrawal, a jitteryPakistan has said that attimes it feels that NewDelhi's presence in the war-torn country is perhaps"larger than it ought to be".

Pakistan Foreign Minis-ter Shah MahmoodQureshi's remarks toAfghanistan's Tolo newschannel comes days afterExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar met US SpecialRepresentative forAfghanistan Reconciliation

Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar'scapital Doha on Tuesdayand exchanged perspectiveson the war-ravaged nationand the region.

"Obviously, you have sov-ereign relations and youhave bilateral relations andyou have every right to havesovereign and bilateral rela-tions with India. You havetrade with India. They comeand carry out developmentwork there, that's com-pletely fine with us,"Qureshi said during the in-terview which will be tele-cast on Saturday.

"But at times we feel thattheir presence is perhaps

larger than it ought to be be-cause they...don't share aborder with you," he said,according to the excerpts ofthe interview posted by thenews channel on its Twitterhandle.

When asked whether In-dia's presence inAfghanistan bothers Pak-istan, Qureshi said, "Yes, Ifthey use your (Afghan) soilagainst us, it bothers me."Asked how India is usingAfghan soil for anti-Pak-istan activities, he alleged:"Yes, they are...By carryingout terrorist activities."During the interview,

Pak says at times it feels India's presencein Afghanistan 'larger than it ought to be'

People offering prayers at Kheer Bhawani temple atTulmula in Kashmir on Friday. PHOTO: SAJAD HAMEED

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