Kashmir 150 Days

Day 149: Protests in Palhallan, Kulgam, Tral; Srinagar abuzz
In Srinagar, the summer capital, Sunday market remained abuzz throughout the day while shoppers could be seen buying winter stuff.

ABID BASHIR/ KHALID GUL
Srinagar/Anantnag, Publish Date: Dec 4 2016 11:11PM | Updated Date: Dec 4 2016 11:11PM

Even as Kashmir remained abuzz with activities on weekend relaxation call by joint resistance leadership, massive protests erupted at Palhallan and Tral area while as yet another school went up in flames in south Kashmir, witnesses and reports said on Sunday.

In Srinagar, the summer capital, Sunday market remained abuzz throughout the day while shoppers could be seen buying winter stuff.

Roads witnessed massive traffic jams as public transport plied smoothly. Private vehicles also plied on roads in a big number. This is the third weekend relaxation announced by the joint resistance leadership since July 8. In old city all major markets remained abuzz with activities.

Reports said that all the schools were open across Kashmir with full attendance of students.

South Kashmir

Devsar and other adjoining villages observed a complete shutdown on Sunday against the killing of a local Fisheries department employee, Asadullah  Kumar,  of Mudhal- Devsar allegedly by government forces.

The Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti visited the area amidst shutdown to inaugurate the JK Bank ATM. She also visited the hospital and college in Kelam village of Devsar. “Shops remained closed and traffic was of the roads in Devsar-  Kellam and adjoining villages,” witnesses said.

They said police and paramilitary forces were deployed in strength to thwart any attempts of protests. “Clashes, however, erupted between the forces and protesters after the Chief Minister left the area,” witnesses added.

Meanwhile, Dooru and Verinag areas of Anantnag district continued to observe shutdown against the killing of a Congress Sarpanch Sajad Malik allegedly by forces during police custody. Shops remained shut while traffic remained off the roads.

In Southern Tral area of Pulwama district clashes erupted on Sunday evening after the culmination of a religious function at the shrine of Hazrat Shah-e-Hamdan (RA).

Witnesses said that youth pelted stones on the paramilitary forces stationed in the town after the Urs of  Hazrat Shah-e-Hamdan ended at Khanqah-e-Faiz Panah. The forces responded by firing teargas shells.

Shopkeepers downed their shutters following the clashes. The whole market wore a deserted look despite the relaxation in shutdown called by the separatist leadership. “Some youth who were returning from Urs, pelted stones on forces who were chased” SP Awantipora Zahid Malik said. 

Earlier the annual Urs of Hazat Amir Kabeer Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (RA), popularly known as Shah-e-Hamdan, was observed at Khanqah-e-Faiz Panah in the area with religious fervor and enthusiasm. The Urs is observed on 6 Zul Hijjah every year but local Auqaf administration had postponed it due to the ongoing uprising.

Another school goes up in flames

Another government run school went into flames in a mysterious fire incident in Kokernag area of south Kashmir's Anantnag district last night.

Officials said that a government high school was torched at Narsangri in Larnoo area last night. “The fire damaged the rooftop of the  building and few rooms of,” an official  said.

The flames were brought under control by police and Fire and Emergency Department personnel, the official said, adding that no was injured in the incident. The cause of the fire is being ascertained, the official added.

North Kashmir

North Kashmir's Palhallan area observed a spontaneous shutdown on Sunday against the arrest of three local youth.

Locals alleged that forces raided the area last night and arrested three youth. As the word about the arrest spread, locals took to the streets in the morning and staged a massive protest demanding immediate release of the arrested youth. However, forces resorted to massive teargas shelling to disperse the protesters, who retaliated with stones triggering clashes.

NC condemns detention of legislators

The main opposition party National Conference has condemned the detention of its legislators from south Kashmir in Anantnag (Islamabad) while they were on their way to Dooru and said this incident had yet again exposed the "tyrannical and anti-democratic creed" of the current PDP-BJP dispensation.

In a statement here National Conference Provincial President Nasir Aslam Wani said the detention of party legislators Altaf Ahmed Kaloo, Abdul Majeed Larmi and Dr Bashir Ahmed Veeri indicates Government “desperation” in trying to hide what has happened in Dooru.

“Detaining legislators and disallowing them from reaching out to the people is extremely tragic and highly condemnable. This has exposed Mehbooba Mufti’s tall claims about working towards the restoration of normalcy in the state. When legislators are detained and not allowed to visit a specific area to ascertain the truth – all claims of the Chief Minister stand exposed as hollow rhetoric”, Wani said.

(WITH INPUTS FROM IRFAN AMIN MALIK, SHOWKAT DAR AND ALTAF BABA)

Jeya Under Arrest!

Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa critical after cardiac arrest: Security outside Apollo beefed up, supporters pray for Amma

Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest on Sunday evening and is said to be critical. State Governor Vidyasagar Rao rushed to Apollo in Chennai immediately but after meeting the AIADMK top brass for about 15 minutes, left the hospital with folded hands, without saying a word on Amma's health.

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Yashaswani Sehrawat

December 4, 2016 | UPDATED 03:07 IST

Hours after doctors in Apollo Hospital declared that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had recovered and that she would soon be returning home, the beloved AIADMK leader , popularly known as Amma, suffered a heart attack.

The Apollo Hospital in Chennai, where Jayalalithaa is being treated, said in a press release that after suffering the cardiac arrest, she was in a critical condition. Jayalalithaa has been in hospital since September 22 when her condition deteriorated suddenly.

Jayalalithaa is presently on extracorporeal membrane heart assist device and being treated by a team of expert doctors and critical care specialists.

An emergency cabinet meet was held inside the Apollo Hospital soon after the news about Jayalalithaa's cardiac arrest broke. However, no statement was issued by the AIADMK leaders. 
ALSO READ | Jayalalithaa suffers cardiac arrest, said to be critical

Meanwhile, upon hearing news of Jayalalithaa's condition, Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao reached the Apollo Hospital to check on the Chief Minister's condition.
 
However, contrary to expectations that he would address the press, he just folded his hands and left the hospital premises without saying a word on Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's health.

As news of Jayalalithaa's deteriorating health spread, the Tamil Nadu DGP issued a fax statement ordering deployment of a huge police force outside the Apollo Hospital in Chennai to keep the situation under control.

The anti-riot control police has also been placed on stand-by.

Stephen Hawking released from hospital

Stephen Hawking released from hospital in Rome after checks

© Dave J Hogan/Getty Images 

Stephen Hawking has been released from hospital in Rome after two days of checks.

The physicist, who was in Italy to attend a scientific conference, was taken to the Gemelli hospital on Thursday night after falling ill.

A spokesman for the hospital, which is where popes are treated, said that he was in a good condition and was on his way back to Britain.

Hawking, 74, suffers from motor neurone disease and travels with a staff that includes two nurses.

He had met the Pope on Monday night, and a Vatican spokesman later confirmed he was not believed to be in a serious condition.

The cosmologist has been speaking out on current events in recent weeks, calling for people to "work together" and "break down barriers" in a column written after Donald Trump won the U.S election.

He has also said it would be a "terrible mistake" to ignore the issues behind Trump's victory and the Brexit vote, adding: "We are living in a world of widening, not diminishing, financial inequality, in which many people can see not just their standard of living, but their ability to earn a living at all, disappearing.

"It is no wonder then that they are searching for a new deal, which Trump and Brexit might have appeared to represent."

He also warned that mankind was "at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity" with the "technology to destroy the planet."

ENB சுவரொட்டி மட்டக்களப்பு 04122016

 

Security tightened in Batticaloa to prevent communal clashes

Security tightened in Batticaloa to prevent communal clashes
Sunday Times SL

Security in and around Batticaloa town was tightened last night with the deployment of additional police and Special Task forces personnel to prevent a possible clash between two communities.
Earlier in the day, a tense situation arose when police stopped a group led Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thera from proceeding to Batticaloa town.

The group from Colombo was stopped at Riditenna in Welikanda but later allowed to proceed to Punani, 60 kms from Batticaloa town. The group decided to spend the night there.

A BBS spokesman said they were going to Batticaloa to take part in  religious activities and look into the welfare of Buddhists in the  area.

But others said the BBS group was to join a march organised by the controversial monk, the Ven Ampitiye Sumanaratna Thera of Mangalaramaya, Batticaloa, to place a Buddha statue in a private land.

Last evening, several people, including two Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, gathered near Batticaloa town to demand that the police take action to disperse a crowd led by Ven Sumanaratna Thera. They said if this was not done, it could lead to a clash between the two groups.

Senior Deputy Inspector General Sumith Edirisinghe, who is in charge of the Batticaloa division, said the Police had taken necessary measures to prevent any violence.

“The situation is under control, but we are on alert,” he said.

இன மத மோதல்களில் குளிர் காயும் NGO கள்

Extremist monks march towards Batticaloa, Tamil and Sinhala youth mobilise for confrontation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 December 2016, 18:19 GMT]

SMS message were being sent across Batticaloa calling Tamil and Muslim youth to confront the violent Sinhala-Buddhist Power Force (Bodu Bala Sena), which is marching towards Batticaloa with a vow to erect 10 Buddha statutes in the Tamil-speaking Batticaloa district.

The BBS monks have managed to reach Punaanai, outmanoeuvring SL policemen at Regi-thana, a locality between Welikanda and Punaanai. Sinhala youth have also been mobilised from Polonnaruwa and Ampaa’rai to accompany the marching monks. In the meantime, informed sources said Ampitiye Sumanarathna Thero was recently spotted being in possession of a pistol beneath his saffron. The sources has also revealed that the monk was initially a recruit of the so-called ‘National Intelligence Bureau’, especially in the early 1990s and he was posted to Batticaloa with a particular mission. 

இத்தகைய நிலங்கள் சிவ சேனையின் விளைவுக்கான விச வித்துக்களே!

 

Digital India — from dream to reality, via demonetisation

 

Digital India — from dream to reality, via demonetisation
 Aparajita Choudhury  30 November 2016

In the wake of demonetisation, Digital India no longer seems like such a distant dream. Prashanto Roy, VP and Head, NASSCOM Internet Mobile and E-commerce, said at BengaluruITE.biz 2016 that India before demonetisation had 78 percent of cash transactions by gross revenue and the remaining 22 percent came from RTGS, IMPS, and mobile wallets. However, in the three weeks since demonetisation, the number has come down to just 20 percent, with an increasing number of people using mobile wallets for payments.

However, accessibility is still a huge challenge in digital India because although a billion users are online,  only a small fraction is actually online in a meaningful way. Out of a billion mobile subscribers, 350 million are internet users, of which 90 percent use a mobile device. The top three apps in India by monthly average download are WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger.

When it comes to payments, the secure way of transacting digitally is through smartphones and not feature phones because SMS is very unsafe. Now when it comes to connectivity, it triggered one question: how will the smartphones connect? If it is via 4G, then there should be enough spectrum  for the same. But if one looks at the social pyramid of a billion mobile users, there is a huge section of illiterate masses on the way down the structure.

Challenges on the payment side

Though the adoption of digital payments has witnessed a rise, the payments themselves remain an issue. According to Priya Karnik, ‎Vice President — Business, at Paytm, digital payments have various aspects like connectivity, serving customers digitally, and digital literacy.

She said, “In financial services, we have to be very cognizant in terms of what have we achieved so far. We have more than a billion people with Aadhaar as an identity. India Stack is the foundation for us to launch financial services digitally and the Jan-Dhan Yojana. By mobile banking we don’t mean that we are accessing the banking interface via mobile, mobile payment goes beyond where we can use it commerce.”

Paytm currently has over 150 million registered wallet users and one billion offline merchants and performs seven million transactions a day. Priya emphasised that today, everyone from the chaiwala and kirana stores to the tender coconut water guy is accepting payment digitally. This revolution is creating a lot of opportunities for financial services providers which offer various financial services like micro lending, micro insurance, etc.

Addressing the issue of local languages has also become crucial in terms of reaching the rural and semi-urban areas. Therefore, Paytm recently launched a multilingual interface in 10 languages to overcome language barriers, enabling people to shop and pay in regional languages. The user interface will be available on Android in 10 different regional languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, and Punjabi.

Challenges in digital transactions

The key to the Digital India initiative is accessibility, which can be divided into two verticals — wired and wireless connectivity. The delivery of internet has to be seamless, affordable, and widely available. India’s position in the world of broadband services has been elevated with consumers’ changing preferences towards internet adoption.

Bala Malladi, CEO, ACT Fibernet, said, “If you want people to come on the digital bandwagon, you need to give a good experience, which comes from trial and adaptation. The trial is something we need to generate at both the government level and private level. The best way to make people experience something that they haven’t done earlier is through Wi-Fi. If you go to any Wi-Fi hotspot zone assuming that the backend technology is robust enough, this is a wonderful experience. The trial should be done with a little bit of adaptation and there is no other option but to have the backhaul network. I don’t see any alternative other than connecting and getting a reach to every village.”

Overcoming the challenges

Before conquering the challenges of internet services delivery, it is very crucial to ascertain the prevailing problems like availability of supporting infrastructure and literacy.

Jayant Bhatnagar, Director, Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), said, “The problem of literacy cannot be solved overnight; we need infrastructure to do that. Therefore, we have developed equipment which will enable illiterate people to get access.”

C-DOT has developed a product called GyanSetu to bridge the gaps in connectivity and communication dissemination in the rural parts of the country. GyanSetu allows rural masses to connect to the internet in local language, bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas by providing multi-lingual text and audio- and video-based solutions.

Ashish Arora, ‎CEO, Airtel Business, said that Airtel is working with state governments to create awareness of the internet. Airtel is working on a few projects in the villages of MP and UP, training women to improve education and awareness in digital literacy.

YourStory is a social media partner for BengaluruITE.biz.

PFLP mourns and salutes Comrade Fidel Castro, a revolutionary inspiration for the world

PFLP mourns and salutes Comrade Fidel Castro, a revolutionary inspiration for the world
Nov 26 2016
 

 Castro-Habash

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -PFLP-extends its condolences to the Cuban people, the Palestinian people and the revolutionary movements of the world upon the loss of the former prime minister and president of Cuba and the historic international revolutionary leader, Comrade Fidel Castro Ruz, on Friday, November 25, 2016.

Castro’s internationalist revolutionary commitment to fighting imperialism and capitalism – manifest in the revolutionary victory against US imperialism and its puppet Batista regime in the 1959 Cuban revolution – conistently stood with the oppressed peoples of the world in their confrontation of imperialism, Zionism, racism and capitalism. Throughout his life, Fidel was a supporter and an example of revolutionary struggle in Latin America, in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and throughout the continent. From Angola to South Africa, Palestine to Mozambique, Bolivia to El Salvador, Castro’s legacy of international revolutionary solidarity and struggle continues to serve as an example in practice that transcends borders toward revolution, democracy and socialism.

Fidel-Habash-Hilda

At a time when the world is witnessing the massive domination of imperialist powers, it is particularly critical at this time to cherish and learn from the legacy and reality of the Cuban revolution and its persistent defeat of US imperialism. The victory of the Cuban revolution was one that came through armed struggle, a victory that belonged to the entire people. Fidel and his comrades mobilized workers and peasants to fight together to ensure the victory of their revolution, not only at the moment of their triumph in 1959, but over the decades to come. Despite all contradictions, the Cuban revolution has remained an example of the nationalization of production, the division of wealth, and the construction of exceptional free education and health care systems.
Throughout Castro’s life, and throughout the history of the Cuban revolution, support for the Palestinian people’s national liberation movement and the Palestinian revolution has been central to its anti-imperialist approach that centered the construction of revolutionary alliances between the progressive forces and struggling peoples of the world. The Palestinian people and the Cuban people have stood fidel22together at all levels, in confronting imperialism and its forces, from Latin America to Africa to the Arab world. In the Tricontinental alliance and the Non-Aligned Movement, Cuba stood with the Palestinian people and their liberation movement in all facets of international struggle, building a revolutionary alliance for collective movement against imperialism, colonialism and its particular manifestation in Palestine, Zionism. Zionism has been a key weapon of racist oppression, a fact recognized by Fidel Castro and the Cuban people and state. This popular unity has not faded over the years; as Zionist weaponry pounded Gaza in 2014, Castro slammed this “repugnant fascism” against the Palestinian people. Dozens of Palestinian students continue to study in Cuba today through its long-running scholarship program.

As we mark the passing of Fidel Castro, we also remember his comrades: Che Guevara, Celia Sanchez, Camilo Cienfuegos, Haydee Santamaria, and many more who fought to create a new Cuba and build a revolutionary society. This is a moment not only for mourning and for memory, but also a time to revive our revolutionary ideas, for victory for Palestine, towards democracy and socialism.

“A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past,” said Fidel Castro.

Throughout his life, he fought endlesly to bring that future into being. This moment calls on us to intensify, examine, and develop our Palestinian, Arab and international revolution to defeat Zionism and imperialism and fight for a future of liberation, justice, democracy and socialism.

வங்கி வரிசையில் வாழ்விழந்தார் வாழ்க்கைக் கிராமவாசி!

கும்பகோணத்தை அடுத்த பாபநாசம் இந்தியன் வங்கியில் பணம் எடுப்பதற்கு வரிசையில் காத்திருந்த முதியவர் மயங்கி விழுந்து உயிரிழந்தார்.

கபிஸ்தலத்தை அடுத்த வாழ்க்கை கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்த 75 வயது முதியவர் சுப்பிரமணியன்.

இவர் தனது சேமிப்பில் உள்ள பணத்தை எடுப்பதற்காக மனைவியுடன் அங்குள்ள இந்தியன் வங்கிக்கு சென்றுள்ளார். பணம் எடுப்பதற்காக நீண்ட வரிசையில் காத்திருந்த பொதுமக்களுக்கு நடுவே அவரும், அவரது மனைவியும் சிக்கிக் கொண்டுள்ளனர்.

இந்நிலையில் வரிசையில் கால்கடுக்க நின்ற முதியவர் சுப்பிரமணியனுக்கு திடீரென நெஞ்சுவலி ஏற்பட்டு மயங்கி விழுந்தார். அருகில் நின்ற அவரது மனைவி தையல்நாயகி, கணவரை தன் மடியில் வைத்துக் கொண்டு உதவி கேட்டுள்ளார்.

ஆனால், முதியவரின் உயிரை பொருட்படுத்தாமல் வங்கியில் நின்ற பொதுமக்கள் பணம் எடுப்பதிலேயே மும்முரமாக இருந்துள்ளனர்.
 
மேலும் சிலர் இந்த காட்சியை வீடியோ எடுத்துக் கொண்டிருந்தனரே தவிர உதவிக்கு யாரும் முன்வரவில்லை.

நீண்ட நேரத்திற்கு பிறகு வங்கி ஊழியர்கள் அழைத்த பிறகு அங்கு வந்த `108 மருத்துவக் குழுவினர்`, முதியவர் ஏற்கனவே உயிரிழந்துவிட்டதாக கூறினர்.

வங்கிக்கு பணம் எடுக்க வந்த இடத்தில் மனைவியின் மடியில் முதியவர் உயிர்விட்ட சம்பவம் பொதுமக்கள் மத்தியில் அதிர்ச்சியையும், சோகத்தையும் ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது.

பதிவு செய்த நாள் : December 04, 2016 - 09:07 AM

Stephen Hawking hospitalised in Rome

Stephen Hawking hospitalised in Rome for checks after not feeling well

File Photo: Mr Stephen Hawking

British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking has been hospitalised in Rome for checks after not feeling well but his condition is not believed to be serious, a spokesman said.

Hawking, 74, who was in Rome to attend a conference at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and met Pope Francis on Monday, was taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Thursday night.

Both the spokesman and a Vatican source said Hawking, who suffers from motor neurone disease, was not believed to be in serious condition. The Vatican source said plans for Hawking and his entourage to leave on Saturday had not been changed.

A hospital source said Hawking would spend a second night in the Gemelli "as a precaution" but that "the situation was under control".

Hawking, author of "A Brief History of Time," speaks through a computer and travels with a staff that includes two nurses. He gave a talk at the Vatican on Nov. 25 on the origin of the universe.

The Gemelli is considered one of Rome's best hospitals and it is where popes are treated.