Despite the growing clamour from the central government on India turning digital, and banks requesting direct bank account transfer, the state government decided to hand over cheques to the farmers, which can be immediately converted into cash.
We'd like to know, however, is what you thought about the Modi-Sayeed hug?
The Congress on Sunday said that it will not take the initiative to form a government in Jammu and Kashmir if it does not emerge as the single largest party in the 87-member Assembly."If we do not emerge as the single-largest party, we will not take the initiative to form the government," All India Congress Committee General Secretary Prithviraj Chavan told reporters in New Delhi.Congress sources said the party would like to go with one of the two regional parties.
The major shake-up of the council of ministers -- including six of the BJP and two of the PDP -- follows BJP ministers Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga resigning from the cabinet earlier this month after they were criticised for taking part in a rally in support of those accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to chair a meeting with all political parties from Jammu and Kashmir on June 24 as part of the Centre's initiatives to bolster political processes, including holding assembly elections, in the union territory, officials said in New Delhi.
"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.
The Kashmir-based PDP's linkage with the BJP could even be a turning point, provided it is safeguarded against real possibility of miscarriage. So-called fringe elements on either side, more so in the Saffron parivar, can easily upset Modi-Mufti applecart. They have only to drag contentious issues into limelight to do that, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
She indicated that she was not looking for any financial package but the confidence building measures sought by her should focus on political aspect of the problem.
The ultras fired upon advocate Babar Qadri at his Hawal residence around 6.25 pm from close range before fleeing the spot, a police official said.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and three of his cabinet colleagues are among 44 candidates whose fate will be decided on Tuesday in the third phase of polling in 16 seats spread across Budgam, Pulwama and Baramulla districts.
Jammu and Kashmir was placed under governor's rule on Saturday night with the process of new government formation following the death of CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed taking some time.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, a coalition partner in Mufti Mohammad Sayeed-led government in Jammu and Kashmir, on Sunday criticised the controversial decision to release hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam and said its ministers and legislators will meet to discuss the party stand over the "unilateral" step.
This is the first visit by diplomats to the newly carved out UT.
A PDP-BJP alliance would have been formed on the evening of December 28 had the BJP agreed to let Mufti Mohammad Sayeed become chief minister for the first three years and allow the BJP to nominate its chief minister for the next three years.
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Monday said assembly elections should be held only after restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and asked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government to honour its commitment made on the floor of Parliament.
Congress asked the government to clear its stand on whether it intended to hold talks with Pakistan.
"The charge that the two ministers were pro-rapist is absolutely wrong. It was sheer indiscretion on their part," Madhav said.
'We have been fighting for the last 70 years on the issue of Article 370.'
She defeated her nearest rival, Hilal Ahmad Shah of the Congress party by 12,085 votes. Mehbooba polled 17,701 votes.
The PDP is the front-runner in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. The ruling National Conference and the Congress will be lucky to reach double figures.
Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who died at a hospital in Delhi on Thursday, was laid to rest with full state honours in his ancestral graveyard of Bijbehara town in Anantnag district.
An independent legislator, Engineer Abdul Rashid on Wednesday said that he will press for the release of all political prisoners and return of the mortal remains of Parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru in the upcoming budget session of the state assembly.
Sulking over denial of weighty portfolio to separatist-turned-politican Sajjad Lone, his party People's Conference today issued a veiled threat that it may consider quitting the ruling coalition of Peoples Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is expected that Sayeed will invite Modi for the swearing-in function in Jammu.
"We are the people, especially in the Kashmir Valley, who upheld the tricolour high over the years at the cost of thousands of our workers who were martyred," Mufti told reporters in Jammu at the end of her five-day visit to Jammu -- her first after release from over one-year-long detention under the Pubic Safety Act (PSA).
Mufti appealed to all shades of opinion in joining in the mission to get the state out of violence and bloodshed.
The incident took place at the shop-cum-residence of BJP leader Wasim Bari, earlier district president of the party, where some motorcycle-borne terrorists attacked the three from a close range with a silencer-fitted revolver, they said.
The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "to arrest the downslide in the border situation which has generated fear and panic among the people".
The sources said consultations with some of the ministries have been undertaken and the state may soon witness the end of governor's rule.
The PDP and the NC condemned the killing of the special police officer.
Most political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, ruling National Conference, People's Democratic Party and Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party are all set to go it alone in the five phased electoral battle for 87 constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Mehbooba also became the second Muslim woman to become the chief minister of any state in India.
In the backdrop of the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and called for a better coordination between the alliance partners
Police on Saturday detained Opposition Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti as she was heading towards Shopian district where four persons were killed in CRPF firing last week.
Officials said both the factions of the Hurriyat are likely to be banned under Section 3(1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or the UAPA, under which "if the Central Government is of opinion that any association is, or has become, an unlawful association, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare such association to be unlawful."
Mehbooba was addressing a joint press conference with Omar Abdullah and Hurriyat Conference Chief Mirwaiz Umer Farooq on the sidelines of the Hindustan Times Summit.
The political impasse in Jammu and Kashmir has taken a new turn with Omar Abdullah deciding not to continue as caretaker chief minister, arguing that the state needed a full-time administrator to deal with the situation along the border with Pakistan.
One year after his death, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed's legacy stands crucially poised, says Mohammad Sayeed Malik.
The 82-year-old former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister received the ED summons a day after the formation of the People's Alliance led by him was announced on October 15.
