Volume: 02 | Issue: 27 | 24th July - 30th July 2015 | Friday | English Weekly | Pages: 08 | Rs. 3/- | Baramulla

The Varmul PostRNI Regn. No: JKENG/2014/62288

Weeklysnippets 24 - 30 July 2015 P/2

GOVERNMENT APPROVES CHILD CARE LEAVE FOR WOMEN

In a significant development, the Government has issued a notif ica-tion allowing Child Care leave for its women employees. As per the new provision, a women employee can avail a maximum period of 730 days of child care leave during her entire service for taking care of her two eldest children. The leave can be taken to look after the children’s education, illness and other similar requirements.

After approval by the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Finance Department issued the notif ication incorporating the child care leave in the J&K Civil Services (Leave) Rules. This is seen as a major welfare measure for a large number of Government women em-ployees.

During the period of child care leave, a woman employee shall be paid leave salary equal to pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave and the child care leave can be combined with any other kind of leave. However, the leave shall not be granted for more than three spells in a calendar year. Though child care leave can be claimed only after completion of probation period by the employee, yet as a hu-manitarian gesture, some minimum child care leave can be allowed to a probationer in certain extreme circumstances.

It may be recalled that the present Government in its f irst budget announced that the child care leave shall be introduced in the State Leave Rules so that the diff iculties faced by working women in rearing of their children is resolved and women employees get this benefit at par with Central Government employees. The move was hailed by many sections of employees particularly women.

EDUCATION OBSERVERS INTERACT WITH STUDENTS AT KALOOSA

Education Observers interacted with 8th class students in GHS Kaloosa and found brilliant reading and understand-ing levels in English. Each and every student could read the textbook f lu-ently, knowing the meanings as well. We salute the hard work of Mrs. Suni-ta Bhat who has been teaching English

in this school since 8 years. But basic mathematics was found weak and we hope continuous efforts are made and a brighter picture in math-ematics comes out very soon.

AWARENESS CAMP ON HEPATITIS-B HELD AT SUMBAL

The department of Indian System of Medicines (ISM) and Health

Bandipora Thursday organized an awareness camp at Government Higher Secondary School Nowgam Sumbal. The camp was attended by the District Nodal Officer ISM, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Senior doctors of AYUSH, Principal and staff of the said Institution, citizens and students.

During the camp, the participants were sensitized about the causes, symptoms, precautions and other treatment of Hepatitis-B.

Nodal Officer ISM in his speech threw light on the achievements of the department of ISM made in the district Bandipora and said that a number of seminars and awareness camps have been conducted in the district so that common masses are made aware about the activities of ISM carried out to get control over various diseases and other social evils.

DLSCC SANCTIONS RS. 95.75 LAKHS TO MILITANCY HIT VICTIMS OF

BARAMULLAThe District Level Screening-cum-Consultative Committee (DLSCC)

meeting was held under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Baram-ulla, Peerzada Mushtaq Ahmad Shah today. The Committee took up 78 cases, out of which 30 cases were sanctioned on the spot, while as other cases were referred to concerned agencies for re-verif ication report.

The Committee sanctioned Rs. 14 lakhs in favour of 14 next of kins of deceased persons as ex-gratia relief and Rs. 76 lakhs were also sanc-tioned as cash compensation to the next of kins of the deceased persons

as per SRO-43.The Committee

rejected two cases, while as Rs. 5.75 lakhs was also sanc-tioned in favour of property damaged persons during the

militancy incident. Meanwhile, the Committee also sanctioned 7 ap-pointment orders under SRO-43.

The meeting was attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Assistant Commissioner Revenue, other concerned officers and various Security agencies.

ONE DEAD IN KREERI ACCIDENT; BOY CONSUMES POISON IN KUPWARA.

In Kreeri Baramulla, a Tractor bearing registration number JK05A/5217 driven by Abdul Rehman Ganie son of Ghulam Rasool resident of Tandma turned turtle near Check Durhama in the jurisdiction of Police Station Kreeri, resulting in on spot death of the tractor driver. After completing medioc-legal formalities, the body of the deceased was handed over to his relatives for last rites. Baramulla police has regis-tered a case in this regard.

A boy (name with held) resident of Awoora, Kupwara consumed some poisonous substance at his home. He was shifted to District Hospital Kupwara for treatment. Kupwara police has registered a case in this regard.

YAWAR DEMANDS COMPENSATION FOR DUGARPORA VICTIMS

MLA ,Rafiabad, Yawar Dilawar Mir has expressed grief over the massive damages caused to households, fruit orchads andstanding crop due to devastating cloudburst and windstorm that struckDalri-Duggar-Pora villages of Rafiabad on Thursday evening .

While consoling the affected people , Yawar Mir has called upon the district administration, Baramulla to depute loss assessment teams to the affected villages so that a case for relief and compensation to the victim families is processed under SDRF . While demanding the free ration to the affected people, Yawar said that the cloudburst and windstorm have completely damaged standing crops and fruits.

While impressing upon the district administration Yawar called upon the district administration to take cognizance of the plight of affected families who have lost their households and livelihood due to this natural calamity and come to their rescue.

CRPF TROOPER SHOOTS SELFA CRPF trooper allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself

with his service rif le in Sopore area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, police said.

Head Constable L R Thakrey, posted with C-company of 179th Bat-talion, was on sentry duty at Company headquarters at Chinkipora locality of Sopore, 55 kms from here, when he shot himself this morn-ing, a police off icer said.

He said the trooper was rushed to a hospital by his colleagues but was pronounced dead by the doctors.

The motive behind the extreme step was not known immediately, the off icer said, adding, a case was registered and further investiga-tions are on.

FOUNDATION STONE OF HARVEST-ING TANK LAID AT CHANDIGAM,

KUPWARAMinister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sukhnandan Kumar

Choudhary today laid foundation stone of a harvesting tank for provid-ing of irrigation facilities to the villages of Sogam block in Kupwara.

He was accompanied by the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Abdul Haq Khan and District Development Commis-sioner, Kumar Raju Rajan besides SP Kupwara, Ajaz Ahmad Bhat, engineers and officers of District Administration.

Addressed people on the occasion, the Minister said that the project is being completed within next 18 months to provide irrigation facili-ties for 4500 kanals of land coming up at an estimated cost of Rs. 4.50 crore and so far Rs. 2.39 crore have been released for execution of this project. He impressed upon the executive agency to complete the proj-ect within the stipulated time frame so that irrigation facilities be made available to the farming community which is the dire need of the people of the area.

The District Development Commissioner on the occasion briefed the visiting dignitaries about the status of the irrigation scenario in the district and other on-going development projects carried on by different executive agencies.

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Mr. Abdul Haq Khan speaking on the occasion said that present government headed by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed is committed to provide all the basic amenities to people of the far-f lung areas in respect of safe drinking water, road connectivity, transportation, health care irriga-tion facilities are the top priority of the government.

P/3News 24 - 30 July 2015

Printer, Publisher, Owner & Editor: Muneeb ul Haq . Associate Editor: Noor Ul HaqPublished from: Mohjoo Complex, PWD Road Baramulla. Printed at: Gousia Printing Offset Press, Batpora Sopore .

Regn. No: JKENG/2014/62288 Contact +91-7298910301 email: varmulpost@gmail.com

RAYEES GANIEBARAMULLA

Raju, a street vendor who earns his life by selling vegetables in the Awkaf market, Baramulla feels no relief by the recent drive against street vendors by local administration. Raju witnessed huge losses due to this drive besides he calls it a vengeance of au-thorities towards a specif ic section of people. Law should be same for all, but authorities are not treating every citizen in same way. “Our business got dis-rupted due to this drive. People don’t visit the allotted space at Fruit and Vegetable Market. The foul smell of chicken as it is surrounded by chicken dealers, cre-ates more problems for us as well as for the masses who prefer not to buy anything from here”.

However Farooq Ahmad another street vendor, who sells Cheese in the main market said that it is a good step and we appreciate such steps made by the authorities but there should be proper sanitation sys-tem so as we can work freely in the provided spaces. Farooq is of the opinion that authorities should deal strictly with the erring street vendors.

Pertinently the district administration and mu-nicipal council Baramulla recently started a drive against the street hawkers and pavement encroachers. Despite many a raids and allotting of special teams for removing the encroachers from the market, local

administration failed to restore same situation in main town with street hawkers and vendors back to square one. Fruit and Vegetable market Baramulla, a step hauled by the local masses, was set up by the district administration near Koker Bazaar, a place earlier used by Eicher matador service owners. It was for the f irst time in the last decade or so, that Baramulla district administration in order to give a breathing space to people of Baramulla and a hassle free ride through the market without any traff ic jams removed the il-legal encroachment made by street vendors and re-habilitated them at allotted spaces.

Lauding the move of district administration to-wards providing a specific place for the street vendors and removing of illegal encroachment Qazi Ishfaq, President Beopar Mandal while thanking the district administration said that such steps should also be taken against the erring shopkeepers who have en-croached the footpaths. “Street hawkers are our broth-ers, let the administration provide them a space, re-habilitate them as promised. We appreciate such steps by administration besides we appeal the shopkeepers to clear the footpaths so as to ease free movement of masses,” Qazi said.

Manzoor Ahmad, President Eicher Matador Own-ers Association Baramulla, a service running between Baramulla and Khawajabagh, said that before 30 years the place at Koker Bazaar was allotted by government but now we were removed forcibly without any prop-

er plan for our rehabilitation. “The administration assured us to give new space

at bus stand Baramulla but till date there are no such steps being taken. We applaud the steps taken by the administration but they must take care of the Eicher service owners also. We appeal Deputy Commis-sioner Baramulla that they should fulfill our demands as promised,” Manzoor added.

Talking to Varmul Post, Shabir Ahmad, Executive Officer Municipal Council Baramulla said that we have court rulings to rehabilitate the street vendors at specif ic locations to carry out their day to day business and we are doing our level best to fulf ill the demands.

“We have 317 street vendors presently in the mar-ket and we are going to properly register them. We provided them a specif ic place to carry out their busi-ness besides we will allot them more spaces at Gen-eral Bus stand as well as to the Eicher Matador service owners also. And we will strictly deal with any street vendors who want to create any fuss by encroaching the roadside places again,” Executive Officer said.

Meanwhile, the allotted space for the street vendors at Koker Bazaar can be seen empty with no vendor placed there, which adds to the problems for the com-mon masses who otherwise want a fruit and vegetable market at one place to shop.

DudhBugh R e s i d e nt s Blame Au-thorities For Dilapidated Condition Of Roads

REZWAN SULTANBARAMULLAResidents of Kandi Dudbugh are up

in arms against the callous approach of authorities regarding the worst con-ditions of road connecting Kandi Dud-bugh to Baramulla. According to the locals the condition of road is getting worse day by day with no proper care from the authorities. Due to the con-tinuous rains road slides are a usual practice, leaving residents cut off from the town many a times. Roads at sev-eral places like Rajpora, Shumlaran are in a dilapidated condition which increases problems manifolds for Kan-di locals and unfortunately no one takes

the notice of bad road. Locals said that during rainy seasons

this road is too dangerous to drive on with patients being the worst hit. While talking to Varmul Post, Mohd Sultan, a resident of Kandi said that in normal days the Sumo drivers were taking just forty minutes to reach Baramulla but due to the bad condition of roads it takes an hour to reach the destination now.

Moreover sumo drivers who ply on an alternate route from Dangerpora to Baramulla due to dilapidated condi-tions of the road, have increased their fair which according to drivers is more than Dudhbugh-Baramulla road. How-ever the residents of Kandi Dudbugh blame the sumo drivers of dishonesty and mischief. Pertinently the distance

between Dangerpora and Baramulla according to locals is approximately two kilometers shorter than Dudhbugh-Baramulla road.

On the other hand the road con-nectivity of the Chandoosa -Shirpora, Muran is completely cutoff due to September 2014 devastating f loods.

“Despite the fact that our area is hometown to MP Muzzafer Hussain Beig and MLA Baramulla Javaid Has-san Beig the situation of the roads is totally in a worst form. We appeal both Muzaffar Beigh and Javed Hassan to please look into the matter so as our problems can be solved immediately, ”said Mohd Akbar, a resident of Dud-bugh

Hizb Blames Qayoom Najar for Tower Attacks, Sopore Killings

Sun seems to have set over Sopore suspense as militant outf it Hizbul Mujhadeen Thursday said in the light of the report submit-ted by the inquiry commission that it has suspended Abdul Qayoom Najar from the basic membership of the organization as according to the outf it the said militant was found involved in the killing of innocent people and the recent attacks on cellular towers in Kashmir Valley.

In a statement to CNS, Hizb spokesperson Salim Hashmi while quoting the Chief Commander of the outf it Syed Salahuddin said that Abdul Qayoom Najar is no more a part of the Hizb and he should not be linked with the organization. “During his address to the Hizb Command Council, Syed Salahuddin said that the basic membership of Najar has been suspended as he played a key role in mur-dering some innocent persons, indulged in character assassination of Hurriyat leaders and attacked the telecommunication set up in Valley.”

“The report submitted by the inquiry commission has proved that Qayoom Najar in an utter disregard to the Hizb leadership vio-lated the constitution of the outf it and carried out condemnable acts. Our constitution does not allow or permit such actions,” Salahud-din said.

Salahuddin said that such anti-people activities always prove counterproductive for the freedom movement and advertently or inadvertently such acts help the anti-freedom movement elements.

Condemning the anti-freedom movement acts of self-styled Lashkar-e-Islam organization, Syed Salahuddin said that every attempt to weaken the ongoing Freedom Struggle in Kashmir will be foiled.

It is interesting to mention here that Hizb statement has vindicated Jammu and Kashmir Police that has maintained from day one that a module of Hizb led by Najar has gone astry and is responsible for tower attacks and killings in Sopore.

Attention Hajj pilgrims of district

Baramulla According to ACR Baramulla all the Hajj

pilgrims of district Baramulla are hereby in-formed that their orientation training pro-gramme phase 2nd is scheduled to be held on 25th and 26th of July 2015 at 10 am.

Training of hajj pilgrims of Baram-ulla, Boniyar, Uri, Kreeri and Wagoora will be provided on 25th July at Dak Bungalow Baramulla, Pattan, Tangmarg, Kunzer and Karhama at town hall Kunzer.

While as training programme for Hajj pilgrims of tehsil Sopore, Khoie, Bomai, Dangiwacha, Rohama and Watergate will be conducted on 26th of July 2015 at Dak Bun-galow Sopore.

Authorities to intensify drive against erring street vendors;Street hawkers caught in dilemma

P/4cOveRstory 24 - 30 July 2015

NEWS DESKSOPORE

Promising to revive historic town Sopore’s pros-perity and economic boom, predominantly due to f lourishing fruit business, Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, today took a series of decisions to reposition it as a major fruit marketing hub and speed up ongoing projects in Valley’s premier apple town, here today.

Accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nir-mal Singh, Mufti Sayeed visited the Valley’s his-toric town today and inspected Sopore’s Terminal Fruit Mandi, Sub-District Hospital and Bypass Bridge, which is nearing completion after missing several deadlines. He also interacted with several prominent citizens and invited suggestions for improving basic facilities in the town.

Minister for Horticulture, Haj and Auqaf, A. R. Veeri, Minister for Health & Medical Education, Ch. Lal Singh, Minister for LJ&PA and Relief & Reha-bilitation, Syed Basharat Bukhari, Minister for Pub-lic Works, Syed Altaf Bukhari, MP, Fayaz Ahmad Mir, MLA Sopore, Haji Rashid Ahmad Dar, MLA Rafiabad, Yawar Dilawar Mir and MLC, Muzaffar Parrey were also present on the occasion.

Describing horticulture as the bedrock of its export-oriented industry which sustained the Valley’s economy when it fell on hard times, the Chief Min-ister announced up-gradation of Sopore Fruit Mar-ket on modern lines so that it matches the benchmark standards. He also sanctioned Rs.4 crore for improve-ment of roads within the fruit mandi premises and its periphery to facilitate movement of fruit-laden trucks in and out of the fruit mandi. “The Govern-

ment will promote fruit business of Sopore town and revive the days when people used to call it as Chota London,” he said while addressing a huge gathering of fruit farmers.

Asking the growers to explore air transport for export of quality fruit to outside markets, the Chief Minister said Sopore Fruit Mandi will be upgraded to match international standards and will have add-on facilities like CA stores, packaging and grading line, soil and pesticide testing labs, online trading and dedicated transport terminals. “We have already announced market intervention scheme for Sopore and Shopian towns for quality control,” he said and added that the fruit growers will also be provided insurance cover against weather vagaries.

He also sought cooperation from leading fruit growers for establishing cold storage chains for qual-ity improvement of fruit, in particular apple, as has been done in Lassipora, Pulwama, where several CA stores have been set up in Industrial Growth Centre (IGC).

While moving around the premises at under-construction Sub District Hospital (SDH) Sopore, Mufti Sayeed asked the Health Department to upgrade it as a Model Hospital, laced with all modern equip-ment and manpower to meet day-to-day healthcare needs of the people. The Health Minister assured the Chief Minister that roofing and one additional block of the hospital will be completed to make it immediately functional so that patients are able to avail facilities.

So far, Rs.31.65 crore have been spent on the 200-bedded hospital, which will also have six op-eration theatres and cater to a large population liv-ing in and around Sopore town.

Placing high priority on de-congesting the main Sopore town from heavy vehicular traff ic, the Chief

Minister inspected the Sopore Bypass Bridge, being constructed by Border Roads Organization, and is-sued directions for making it operational in the f irst week of August, next month. Once complete, the bridge will provide alternate access to Handwara and Kupwara, bypassing the main market of Sopore, thus providing huge relief to the people.

The Chief Minister also issued instructions for beautification of Jhelum embankments around Sopore to improve the town’s ambience.

During his interaction with prominent citizens of the apple town, the Chief Minister announced construction of an additional f iltration plant to im-prove the quality of drinking water. Over the years, the people of Sopore town have suffered due to poor quality of potable water. The construction of addi-tional f iltration plant will augment the water supply presently being sourced from Sharakwara Pipeline.

The Chief Minister also directed the Tourism Department to create facilities for zaereens at Ziyarat Shah-e-Hamdan, Sopore, under Pilgrim Tourism.

Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Min-ister, sanctioned Rs.1 crore for improvement of lanes and drains in Sopore town. He also assured that the streetlights in the town will be made functional very shortly.

Commissioner / Secretary, Health & Medical Education, Dr. M. K. Bhandari, Divisional Commis-sioner, Kashmir, Asgar Hassan Samoon, Secretary to Chief Minister, M. H. Malik, Deputy Commis-sioner, Baramulla, Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, Chief En-gineer, R&B, Satish Razdan, MD JKPCC, P. L. Bushan, besides several other Divisional and District level off icers accompanied the Chief Minister during the visit.

Mufti orders facelift of SoporeSanctions Rs. 4 cr for Fruit Mandi; SDH to come up as Model Hospital

Bypass Bridge to be made operational in 1st week of August

Rs 1 cr for lanes, drains; streetlights to be made functional

P/7 24 - 30 July 2015

An all-Muslim basketball team in

Michigan consisting of 16-year-old

boys decided to name itself Motor

City Muslims to fight Islamophobia

and dispel stereotypes.

Motor City Muslims is the only all-Muslim team in America and the coach chose the team’s name change people’s mindsets about Muslims and Islam.

The team’s coach, Clarence Archibald, who is also a Muslim, came up with the name because he thought the team should show pride in its faith and culture. “Some of them were a little hesitant, but I pushed pretty hard. We all know Islam often is unfortunately portrayed in a neg-ative way in the media. I wanted to be sure we were easily identif iable as an all-Muslim team because it gave us an opportunity to change people’s mindsets by showing them we’re as American as home runs and apple pie.”

They even created a logo featuring a Jumpman-esque character dressed in traditional Arab cloth-ing and emblazoned it on the front of their jerseys.

Due to their unusual name, the players were often stared at when they prayed between games and broke their huddle by shouting ‘Bismillah’ (in the name of Allah).

Even the other teams did not take them seri-ously at f irst. “Some teams looked at us and thought, ‘Oh this is an easy win. What are they even doing here?’” said starting point guard Zeeshan Tariq, a rising sophomore at Harrison High School. “When I’d turn around during warm-ups, they’d just be fooling around on the side like they didn’t even need to warm up to beat us because it would be such an easy win.”

Although the team did not have anyone tall-er than 6 feet 3 inches, that did not stop them from winning a few 16-and-under tournament games and opponents soon learned not to un-derestimate them.

The team Motor City Muslims was created by Ali Altimimy, the 26-year-old youth director of the Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield Hills,

Michighan. He loves basketball as much as he loves his religion and wanted to give the boys within his community a chance to hone their talent.

Once the team was formed, both Archibald and Altimimy had their task cut out for them. They did not only have to teach the boys how to play, they also had to eradicate the cliques that the players of Indian, Pakistani and Middle East-ern descent had divided themselves into.

However, the most important task was to pre-pare the team to call themselves the Motor City Muslims at a time when the world viewed Islam and Muslims with fear and distrust.

“What I told them was that they were repre-senting Islam,” Altimimy said. “If we can show people that we’re ballers and we can hoop but that we’re also regular young people, that would be big.”

Team member, Omar Shalal, recalled an in-cident from a tournament at Brighton, where the other teams were laughing at them. “The other team was making fun of us before the game and acting like we were a bunch of pushovers,” Sha-lal said. “We played one of our best games that

day and blew them out. All the other teams came on the court afterward, congratulated us and said, ‘Wow, you guys are actually pretty good.’ They went up to one of our top players and said, ‘You can go somewhere with basketball if you keep working at it.’”

Altimimy and Archibald are also discussing expanding the program by launching a couple new teams for younger players in hopes they’ll get used to the competition level early and grow together.

“There are a lot of good players in the gym at the mosque I go to, but they just want to play against each other,” Tariq said. “They don’t ever want to go out and expose themselves against better competition and show out at tournaments and tryouts. I feel like this team helped some of our guys overcome that fear. I feel like it helped us grow and gave us a chance to show what we can do.”

The boys decided to take July off to fast dur-ing Ramazan but will return to training soon to play next year in the 17-and-under division.

‘REPRESENTING ISLAM’

Only all-Muslim basketball team in US fights Islamophobia

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Sports

P/5 24 - 30 July 2015YOURVIEW

Note: All views expressed in this column are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the organisation

If media reports are to be believed, RSS and its political arm BJP have decided to mount another assault on the demography of Jammu & Kashmir by challenging constitutional validity of Article 35 A of Indian constitution which provides a protective shield to the definition, benefits and privileges enjoyed by permanent residents of the State as per constitution of J&K. The first such assault was made in 1947 when it committed a massacre of Muslims in Jammu region to change its demography within a span of few months. BJP was then known as Jan Sangh. In its current attempt, it intends to take a legal recourse by petitioning Supreme Court to declare Article 35A null and void on the ground that it has been inserted in the constitution of India without adopting the due procedure prescribed under Article 368 of Indian constitution. It may be recalled that this article was inserted in the Indian Constitution for the f irst time through the constitution (application to jammu and kash-mir) order, 1954 issued by the President of India. Article 35A is reproduced below:

35A. “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution, no existing law in force in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and no law hereafter enacted by the Legislature of the State,-

(a) defining the classes of persons who are, or shall be, permanent residents of the State of Jammu and Kashmir; or

(b) conferring on such permanent residents any special rights and privileges or imposing upon other persons any restrictions as respects-

(i) employment under the State Government;

(ii) acquisition of immovable property in the State;

(iii) settlement in the State; or

(iv) right to scholarships and such other forms of aid as the State Government may provide,

shall be void on the ground that it is incon-sistent with or takes away or abridges any rights conferred on the other citizens of India by any provision of this Part.”

As will be seen, this article starts with the words “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution-----’’ which means that this article shall have overriding effect over other articles of the Indian Constitution. The article then proceeds to state that any definition, rights, benefits & privileges enjoined upon the perma-nent residents of the J&K State by virtue of their own constitution shall not be void merely on the ground of being inconsistent with correspond-

ing definitions, rights or privileges contained in Indian constitution. It can be explained by way of following instance: Suppose Mr. A, a resident of Delhi petitions Supreme Court of India that he is not able to purchase immovable property in J&K on the ground of being a non-state Subject and hence is discriminated on the basis of place of birth which is not permitted under Article 15 of Indian Constitution. His petition is liable to be dismissed on the ground that various rights reserved for permanent res-idents of the State of J&K under the Constitution of that State cannot be called into question be-cause of Article 35A of Constitution of India which provides a protective shield to such a definition, rights and privileges as contained in Constitution of State.

In fact that is what Supreme Court has already pronounced in Bachan Lal Kalgotra v. State of Jammu and Kashmir[ AIR 1987 SC 1169.]. The chief contention in the said case was that the refugees from West Pakistan who had migrated into the State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 are not permanent residents as defined in section 6 of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, with the result that they were disentitled to be in-cluded in the electoral rolls of the State Assem-bly or to be appointed to any service under the State Government by direct recruitment or to purchase land in the State etc. etc. The peti-tioner had sought the conferment of all such benefits under Article 35A read with section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu Kashmir thereof as are allowed to the permanent residents of the State. While dismissing the petition after dwell-ing at length on Article 35A , the Apex Court held that in view of the peculiar Constitutional

position obtaining in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, we do not see what possible relief we can give to the petitioner.

All that we can say is that it is up to the Leg-islature of the State of Jammu Kashmir to take action to amend various laws to accommodate the interests of West Pakistan refugees. More recently the Honbl’e High Court of J&K, in a judgment delivered in the context of SRFESI Act, has held that Article 35A clarif ies the al-ready existing constitutional and legal position and does not extend something new to the state and that this article clears the constitutional relationship between people of rest of the coun-try with the people of J&K. But it must be admit-ted that neither the Supreme court nor the High Court had the occasion to test the legal validity of Article 35A vis-a vis article 368.

What is RSS/BJP going to achieve from its intended attempt to Challenge Article 35A on an entirely different ground now? A favourable order from the apex court will pave way for admission of non-state subjects and WPRs to become permanent residents of the State which it wants as a tool to change the demographic character of the State. The move could ulti-mately lead to separation of few districts of Jammu from the State and remember a partition of the State on communal lines is far more dan-gerous for whole of India with unimaginable consequences.

(The author is a practicing chartered Ac-countant. E mail: abdulmajidzargar@ gmail.

com)

Challenging Article 35 A:Assault on Demography

By Abdul Majid Zargar

P/6 24 - 30 July 2015Technology

1. Mute group chats andnotifications

Group chat notif ications can get noisy, they’re best turned off when you have to focus on a task at hand.

On AndroidOn a group chat, tap the Menu button, and hit Mute. Then, choose

the time-frame for which you would like the group to be muted. You can also disable notif ications for the specif ied period. This feature is now available on the web browser too.

On iPhoneOpen Group Chat, tap the group subject to reveal the Group Info

screen, and tap Mute. Now, select how long you’d like notif ications to be muted.

2. Find out who has read your message in a WhatsApp groupRead receipts, marked by two blue ticks indicate that the recipient

has read your message. Find out who has read your message on group chats.

On AndroidDo a long press on a message sent by you. This reveals an ‘i ’ with a

circle around it. Tapping on it will show you who the message was delivered to, and read by.

On iPhoneSee the Message Info screen by opening a chat with a contact or a

group, then swiping your message from the left to right to see delivery and read notif ications.

3. Disable media to save on cellular bandwidth

WhatsApp lets you specify what you would like downloaded on mo-bile data and when connected to Wi-Fi.

On AndroidGo to Settings, Chat Settings, Media Auto-Download to specify

when you want images, audio and videos to be downloaded to your phone.

On iPhoneGo to WhatsApp Settings > Chat Settings > Media Auto-Download.

4. Change profile photo,status message from the

desktopThis new feature recently added to WhatsApp Web lets you tap on

your avatar on the left hand corner, to change your profile photo with a laptop camera or webcam, or a photo on your drive. The feature also works with groups that you are an admin of.

5. Disable Last Seen and Read Receipts aka blue ticks

By default, WhatsApp lets everyone know the last time you used the app. Your last seen timestamp, profile photo and status message can be toggled between ‘Everyone’, ‘My contacts’, and ‘Nobody’ in Settings > Account > Privacy on both iPhone and Android.

Read Receipts, notif ied by those Blue Ticks can seem too obsessive and creepy. You can disable them too, but that also means you won’t be able to see read receipts from other people.

6. Use WhatsApp Web if you’re an iPhone user

Apple users cannot use WhatsApp Web on their phone without jail-breaking the iPhone, but once you’re past that, this jailbreak tweak on the BigBoss Repo on Cydia enables you to use WhatsApp Web on your PC browser.

7. Send a broadcast messageThe equivalent of Bccing your message, it’s cheaper than sending a

group SMS. The replies from your broadcast will be visible only to you.On AndroidTap on Menu > New Broadcast, and select all the contacts you would

like to round up for the message.On iPhoneTap the Broadcast Lists button at the top of the Chats screen, tap

New List at the bottom of the screen, f ilter from your contact list and then tap Create.

8. Migrate to a new numberIf you’ve changed your SIM card, there’s a way to import your ac-

count information, groups and settings. Keep in mind that your old number will be deleted. Make sure that your new SIM is active and able to receive SMSes and calls.

On AndroidTap on Menu > Settings > Account > Change Number and enter the

old phone number in the f irst box, followed by the new number in the second one.

On iPhoneGo to Settings > Account > Change Number, Enter your old phone

number in the f irst box, and your new phone number in the second box.

9. Talk to your phone instead of typing

Not necessarily a WhatsApp tip, but if you don’t have the time to type a message, you can send a Voice message, or let Google’s speech to text engine, embedded in Google’s keyboard do the transcription for you. iPhone users can press the little mic button to activate iOS dicta-tion feature.

10. Explore hotspots around youTap on the Send location icon in the attachment pane to explore

interesting hotspots around you. The map is a mash-up of FourSquare check-ins of places around you. You’ll f ind everything from local tech start ups to restaurants, marked as blue dots.

10 WhatsApp Tips and Tricks Everyone Should Know

For most of us, WhatsApp has become the default go-to messenger, because everyone’s on it, and it’s on nearly every platform. WhatsApp has over a billion downloads on Google Play alone, the only other

messenger to boast that is Facebook Messenger. The app has made itself indispensable by adding a browser version and voice calling to its platform.

For those who have to deal with the app on a daily basis, we’ve lined up some interesting tricks and tweaks that will improve your user-experience.

P/8 24 - 30 July 2015