Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday left his official residence on foot for his office at the Civil Secretariat in Jammu, marking the resumption of the biannual 'Darbar Move' after a gap of four years.
Srinagar International Airport will suspend all flight operations for 15 days from October 1 for crucial runway maintenance, raising alarm bells within the tourism industry that fears the shutdown will deal a massive blow to the sector as it directly clashes with the peak Durga Puja holiday season.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha claims a significant reduction in the fear of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley, citing increased industrial activity in Pulwama and a decline in local terror recruitment.
The Kashmir valley observed a shutdown on Wednesday in protest against a terror attack that killed at least 26 people, mostly tourists, in Pahalgam. This was the first time in 35 years that the valley observed a shutdown for a terror attack. Organisations from all walks of life supported the bandh call, including political parties, socio-religious organisations, trade bodies, and civil society groups. Security has been beefed up across the valley, especially at vital tourist spots.
The central government is expected to complete the auction of the 5.9-million tonne (mt) lithium reserves discovered in the Reasi district of the northern Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) by the end of this calendar year, Union Mines Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj said on the sidelines of the launch of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) report on 'New-Age Energy Minerals' on Tuesday. "Auction will be over by the end of this year," said Bharadwaj, adding, "We have already recommended a transaction advisor to the J&K government for the auction of lithium reserves." However, the exact timeline for an auction will be decided by J&K authorities, Union mines minister Pralhad Joshi said in Parliament last month.
The brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old Bakerwal girl has polarised the normally peaceful town of Jammu, with the local Bar association calling for a bandh against what it termed the "targeting of minority Dogras" while the state police had lodged a case against lawyers who allegedly tried to prevent it from filing a chargesheet against the accused.
The transition from the state into two Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh on Thursday was met with a complete shutdown in the the valley as shops and other business establishments were shut, and public transport were off the roads.
Three tourists from Bangladesh were charred to death in a major blaze in a houseboat on the famous Dal Lake on Saturday, officials in Srinagar said.
Petrol pumps in many cities witnessed long queues on Tuesday as people came to fill up their vehicle tanks fearing shortage of fuel amid the protest by truck drivers against a provision in the new penal law on hit-and-run accident cases involving motorists.
It's seen as a signal that he wants to engage with India Inc at a time when the economy has started looking up.
It would pave the way for Jammu and Kashmir to attract large-scale investments, the industry leaders said.
The strike affected attendance in government offices and banks, the officials said.
"So you will not have anything better... democracy loving, capitalist respecting environment... in India," Sitharaman said at the event hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in association with the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum.
NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said the shutdown of internet services did not have any significant impact on the economy in J-K.
....a long-term boundary agreement is reached between the two countries.
'The economy of Kashmir has collapsed.'
While India does not figure in the top 10 export destinations for Pakistani goods, it serves as a crucial channel for select goods such as leather hides and cheaper variants of fertilisers that are generally procured by importers at short notice.
India Inc on Thursday rallied behind the Army's move to conduct surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control and said it was the time to act tough while ruling out any negative impact on the country's economy and trade.
Omar welcomed the announcement of setting up of an IIT in Jammu and expressed hope that something similar would be announced for Kashmir to maintain regional balance.
The order led to panic in Kashmir which has remained tense for the past few days after the Centre ordered deployment of 100 companies of additional troops in the valley.
'The Arunachal border is not demarcated in that way, so there can be differing perceptions (between two sides)'
Many political detainees have been released but former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, who were whisked into custody in the early hours of August 5, 2019, are still in preventive detention.
"It (JK) is not a political issue as far as I can see. They have been barking up the wrong tree for the last 50 or 70 years by talking about the politics of it, that the political situation has never improved. We seriously need to look at in terms of how it is a society that is in search for itself," Drabu had said at an event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on Friday.
Passenger fares and freight rates were left untouched
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive in Srinagar on a two-day visit later in the day, official sources said.
At least six bank accounts linked to the group have been identified and the banks concerned directed to immediately freeze them.
Resettlement of refugees elsewhere is not the morally correct solution to the problem for it lets the perpetrators off the hook.
He will succeed Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani.
'Trade cannot take place when there is no trust.'
It will take months if not years before flood-ravaged Srinagar is restored to its pristine glory.
The problem, say experts, is not so much the use of plastic as the lack of effort to recycle and reuse it.
'If the dimensions of the strategic partnership worked out by India and the US seem like a grand alliance targeted at you-know-who, China had better realise that it has fathered it,' says B S Raghavan, a long time observer of China.
