Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL Miss Call Alert is now chargeable at Rs 30 per month with effect from July 1 for both Prepaid and Postpaid customers.
According to the spokesman of the BSNL, the interested customers may activate/deactivate this facility through SMS only. For Activation, the customers are required to type SUB MCA and send it to 17010 and for deactivation they need to type UNSUB MCA and send it to 17010.
BSNL Miss Call Alert now at Rs 30 per month
Shawetica elected Treasurer of Mountaineering Association
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: Shawetica Khajuria of Tawi Trekkers J&K was unanimously elected as Treasurer of Mountaineering Association of J&K in a Special General Body Meeting of the Association held here.
The election was necessitated due to the death of Shamsher Singh, former Treasurer of the Association.
It may be mentioned here that Shawetica Khajuria, a senior member of Tawi Trekkers J&K is a veteran sport climber, a trained mountaineer and a national judge in sport climbing.
She is also a senior member of Indian Mountaineering Foundation North Zone Committee.
Technical Self Defence Training Camp held
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: Indo-Oman Shotokan Karate-Do Association organized 1st National Technical Self Defence Training Camp at Sudhmahadev, Mantalai.
Students from the States of Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir took part in the Camp.
The students were taught self defence techniques by the experts.
The Camp was held under the supervision of Ravinder Singh Jamwal, 4th Degree Black Belt.
The various students who took part included Shahnawaz Ahmed, Bhumika Kumari Sambyal, Raghvi Verma and Gourav Arora (All from Naveen Shiksha Academy Narwal); Vishwa Pratap Singh Jamwal, Mohd Younis, Liaqat Hussain, Khadam Hussain, Gourav Singh Jamwal and Vikram Singh Jamwal. These students have been selected for National Championship to be held at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi later this year.
The organizers included Ranjeet Sharma, Sandeep Bakshi, Sunil Kumar, Sumit Gupta, Pooja Sharma and Raveeta Sharma.
Ramzan for early completion of recruitment process for Class IV employees
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 30: Minister for Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CA&PD) and Transport, Ch. Mohammad Ramzan today said that the recruitment process for Class-IV employees in CA&PD is to be completed within a period of one month.
The Minister asked the Directors of both the divisions to set up the Recruiting Committee headed by Assistant Directors in each district so that the drive would be completed within stipulated time. This direction was given by the Minister while chairing a review meeting besides taking stock of distribution and availability of essential commodities here today.
The Minister said that Government is committed to provide quality and standard food grain to the consumers and it is the duty of the department to effectively monitor the public distribution mechanism. He stressed upon the officers for early revision and re-verification of APL and BPL families to identify the genuine and needy families and weed out bogus card holders.
The Minister further asked the officers to identify the deserving households for inclusion under National Food Security Act (NFSA) so that ration on subsidized rates is provided to them under the scheme.
The Minister gave directives to the officers to consult the PRIs for issuing the utilization certificate and ascertaining the overall requirement of food grain and other essentials in the concerned areas. He also asked them to undertake periodical revision and monitor the performance of all districts on regular basis to evaluate the performance for smooth functioning of the department.
Mr. Ramzan also issued instruction for intensifying market checking to curb black marketing and profiteering and asked officers to make all possible efforts to further streamline the working of the department and ensure hassle free supply of food grain in each area during this holy month.
Secretary, CA&PD, Director, CA&PD, Kashmir, Director, CA&PD, Jammu, besides other officers were present in the meeting.
Use recommended spray schedule for disease free horticulture produce: Bhalla
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 30: Re-iterating Government’s commitment of boosting and rejuvenating horticulture sector in the State, the Minister for Housing Horticulture, Culture, Youth Services & Sports, Raman Bhalla today said that steps have been taken for development and streamlining the sector so that farmers and fruit growers and other people associated with it are benefitted.
The Minister said this while chairing a meeting of high level officers to ascertain the measures taken for combating recent Scab disease in Apple.
Among others, Vice Chancellor, SKUAST, Secretary Horticulture, Director Horticulture, Director Extension SKUAST and other concerned officers were present in the meeting.
The Minister stressed upon the officers to work in unison with associate departments so that horticulture production is kept safe from the diseases besides, production and quality is improved.
Mr. Bhalla urged upon them to formulate teams of horticulture officers at district and block levels and visit the orchards of affected areas to assess degree of scab and make aware the farmers about necessary remedial methods besides disseminate updated information to them.
Emphasizing strict adherence to the guidelines laid down by experts and scientists, The Minister asked farmers to extend their cooperation to the Horticulture Department. He stressed for using pesticides/insecticide spray recommended by SKUAST.
Mr. Bhalla also asked the concerned officers to disseminate the necessary guidelines and precautionary measures to be taken by the farmers regarding spray schedule and other matters through print and electronic media so that farmers receive updated knowledge to produce disease free horticulture produce.
The Minister was informed that the situation of disease in apple produce is not alarming and Horticulture Department in coordination with SKUAST has taken various measures to curb the scab disease and will provide every support to the farmers in this regard.
SP College organising intramural sports event
Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 30: S. P. College, Sports Board today organized group meetings in connection with holding of intramural tournament for which students of the college have been grouped into 8 teams including the all female students group named as Moon group.
The Principal of the College, Dr Yaseen Ahmad Shah along with the Convener Sports Board and Physical Director interacted with all student groups. The sports Board of the college will organize the Inter House Tournaments in the forthcoming months and the players will be selected by the selection committee/s framed for the purpose. Such players will then represent the college in the forthcoming Inter College and other recognized tournaments organized by the Directorate of Physical Education and Sports, University of Kashmir and by other recognized associations.
Meanwhile, the sports Board of the College organized two events of “tug of war” between male staff and male students and the other between female staff & female students, both the matches were won by the staff teams. A large number of students witnessed the matches in the sports field. The Principal of the College encouraged the students to take part in the curricular and extracurricular activities with dedication and spirit.
‘Endangered’ Indian classic cinema at Italy film festival
NEW DELHI, June 30:
Indian classic cinema of the 1950s and rare newsreels including one showing a meeting between Mahatma Gandhi and Charlie Chaplin in London, are part of a renowned international film fest currently underway in Italy.
Eight black-and-white films including legendary Hindi cinema like ‘Awara’, ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Mother India’ and S S Vasan’s iconic ‘Chandralekha’ in Tamil are up for screening at the ‘Il Cinema Ritrovato’ festival in the city of Bologna.
Titled ‘The Golden 50s: India’s Endangered Clasics’, it is the first Indian cinema retrospective at the festival, which is dedicated to film restoration and its history.
The festival has been curated by filmmaker Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, known for his National Award-winning marathon documentary ‘Celluloid Man’ that highlighted the loss of Indian cinematic heritage including rare silent-era films.
“About 1700 silent films were made in India of which only five or six complete films remain. Tragically, we have even lost our first talkie ‘Alam Ara’ of 1931. By 1950, India had lost seventy to eighty per cent of its films and this has been the result of a widespread and complacent belief that films will last forever.
“We now realise that these eight classics too are in imminent danger of being lost to the world if urgent steps are not taken for their preservation and restoration. Screening these films is not just a reminder of a singular cinematic legacy, but one that is endangered and must be saved,” Dungarpur told PTI.
Pointing out that ‘Il Cinema’ festival is attended by cinema lovers, filmmakers , archivists, critics and scribes from around the world, Dungarpur hopes the screening brings about awareness about the conditions of these films, at home and abroad.
“Most of the original negatives do not exist and what has survived are dupe negatives and prints in poor condition,” he said.
‘Celluloid Man’ was hailed in the country and world over for broaching the subject of loss of Indian cinematic legacy and post this film, Dungarpur created a non-profit organisation called the ‘Film Heritage Foundation’ dedicated solely for film preservation.
The retrospective and the newsreels showcased at the festival in Italy are one of the first initiatives of the foundation, which has renowned filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, Gulzar, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi, and founder of National Film Archives of India, P K Nair, among others, as its advisors.
Among the rare newsreels are Lord Mountbatten’s last day as Viceroy in India, Gandhi meeting Chaplin in London during the Round Table Conference, Dungarpur said, adding they will in traditional style, precede each of the eight films.
The eight selected film are — ‘Chandralekha’ (1948), considered India’s first spectacular; Raj Kapoor’s ‘Awara’ (1951); Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ (1953) and Madhumati (1958); Ritwik Ghatak’s poignant drama ‘Ajantrik’ (1957); Mehboob’s landmark Mother India (1957); and Guru Dutt’s poetry on celluloid, Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz ke Phool (1959), India’s first film shot in CinemaScope.
On the selection process, Dungarpur said, “It was difficult to choose just eight films from the three major film industries of the time – Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. Each of these eight films represents an innovation in thought, form or style.
“And, these six men were among these ‘rebel’ filmmakers who made the 1950s as truly the golden age of Indian cinema. And, therefore a collective effort must be made to save these cultural icons before we lose them for good.”
The 28th edition of the festival in the Italian city began on June 28 and ends on July 5.
The retrospective has been arranged in collaboration with the Pune-based National Film Archives of India (NFAI) and the Films Division. (PTI)
BJP Kashmir holds meet
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, June 30: A meeting of BJP Kashmir (Displaced) workers was held under the chairmanship of general secretary (Org) Ashok Koul here, today.
Detailed discussion was held on different issues which the displaced people from Valley are facing. They included power cut, insanitation at Jagti camp Nagrota and economic problems faced by those migrants who are solely dependent on cash assistance, due to price escalation were prominent.
In response to reaction of the migrants to return policy Mr Koul empathetically said that return of the Kashmiri Pandits will be on the pre–conditions of the migrants. In the meeting it was decided that the conference will be held in future at appropriate time for which the dates will be announced in couple of days.
Some of the speakers expressed anguish over the unsatisfactory functioning of Relief Organization. An appeal was made to the Government to cleanse the Relief Organization of such elements who create problems for migrants.
The meeting opposed the cumbersome procedure of M form was criticized and rejected by all and one. This unnecessary formality needs to be removed so that the entire eligible voters are able to cast their vote. The meeting was attended by Bal Krishen Koul T.N.Bhat Omkar Nath Shastri, Mohan Lal Sopori, Virender Ji, R.L. Chowdhry, Dr. Indraji, Shashi Razdan, Sujata Ji, Dali and Bansi Lal Bhat.
Rattan Lal from National Conference and Satish Thaplu from PDP joined the BJP in presence of Ashok Koul who too participated in the meeting.
PDP protests against shortage of staff at DH, PHCs
Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, June 30: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) today held a protest outside Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Office against shortage of staff in District Hospital (DH) and Public Health Centres (PHCs).
Amid slogans, the activists of PDP led by Ejaz Subria assembled outside Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Office and held protest against the shortage of the staff in District Hospital and PHC in District Udhampur.
While speaking, Subria said that more than 700 patients visit District Hospital everyday for treatment.
“A doctor examines patient in OPD for more than six hours, so he cannot attend the other patients, due to which the latter have to go back home without check-up”, he added.
He demanded immediate appointment of adequate staff in the District Hospital and PHCs for the convenience of patients vis-à-vis 24 hour service at PHC and Trauma Center at District hospital.
Among others present were Rakesh Kumar, Sundeep Jamwal, Sanjeev Dubey, Chander Prakash, Subash Kumar, Ajay Sharma, Beli Ram, etc.
Police rescues 14 bovines
Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, June 30: In its continuous drive against the bovine smuggling a police party of PS Samba led by SHO Ravinder Singh Parihar and under the supervision of Vijay Pal Singh Dy SP HQ Samba on specific information laid a naka at Mansar Morh today and rescued 14 bovine animals from a truck who were being smuggled to Kashmir Valley.
According to SSP Samba, Anil Magotra the police on a specific information laid a naka at Mansar More and the truck driver on seeing the police fled from the spot leaving the vehicle and animals behind.
The police on checking the truck found it loaded with 14 bovine animals. The police rescued the animals and also seized the truck bearing number JK02AC-8569, SSP added.
He said a case FIR No 115/2014 U/S 188 RPC 2/3 PC Act was registered at PS Samba and investigation started.