THURSDAY | 27 October 2016 | Vol: 01 | Issue No: 05 | Price: 5/- | Pages: 08

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CM chairs 43rd Governing Body meet of SKIMS

JK needs ambitious
vision, futuristic roadmap
in healthcare sector: CM
SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 26:
Chief Minister, Ms Mehbooba
Mufti Wednesday said that Shere-Kashmir Institute of Medical
Sciences (SKIMS), Soura needs
to create an ambitious vision
for delivering best healthcare
to the patients.
The Chief Minister said this
while chairing the 43rd Governing Body meeting of SKIMS held
at SKICC here.
During the recent law and
order situation, the manner in
which the medics and paramedics rose to the occasion and for
days together ensured that
proper medical care is given to
the patients reflects high on their

professionalism and reiterates

the faith in this noble profession,

On day 110, shutdown

continues across Kashmir amid
ransacking of vehicles
SRINAGAR: On the 110th of mass
uprising, a complete shutdown
continued across Kashmir during
which masked youths appeared on
roads and ransacked glasses of vehicles defying shutdown in several parts of Valley including in
Srinagar.
According to GNS, hundreds of
forces men were deployed in five
police station areas of Srinagars
Old City MR Gunj, Nowhatta, Safa
Kadal, Rainwari and Khanyar since
early morning. There was however civilian movement without
any disruption in all these areas.
The areas like Habba Kadal and

Maisuma were also under thick

security blanket but it didnt affect
movement of civilians.
In Civil Lines and uptown area
of the Srinagar, extra-ordinary
movement of private transport and
pedestrians was once again seen
since early morning but all the shops,
commercial establishments and
educational institutes were closed.
Besides, the vendors had set up their
stalls at Batamaloo, Lal Chowk,
Dalgate, Sonwar, Jehangir Chowk,
Exhibition crossing and Jawahar
Nagar. The forces were deployed at
sensitive areas in strength.

Turn on Page 2

Shutdown extended till Nov 03

Dusk (5pm) to dawn (6am) relaxation on 4

days, no relaxation on 3 days
SRINAGAR: The separatist leadership including Hurriyat (G) chairman, Syed Ali Geelani, Hurriyat (M) chairman, Mirwaiz Molvi Umar
Farooq and JKLF chief, Muhammad Yasin Malik on Wednesday issued

Turn on Page 2

Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister who is

also the Chairperson of the Governing Body said the faculty
members of SKIMS are delivering quality patient care at par
with other renowned institutions
of the country, however, SKIMS
needs further improvements
viz a viz healthcare services to
the poor, capacity building for
nurses/doctors, treatment of
various life threatening disease
like cancer etc for which SKIMS
needs to come up with a futuristic vision that will ensure best
healthcare facilities for the
people of the State.
Minister for Health and

Turn on Page 2

KashmirPen

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

Make Ujjwala scheme

hassle-free for marginal
communities: Veeri
SRINAGAR, OCT 26: Minister for Public Works
and Parliamentary affairs Abdul Rehman Veeri today asked the officials and dealers to make the
whole process of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
hassle free for the benefit of the marginal commu-

02

STATE
nities.
He was speaking at a review meeting of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna in the Anantnag district.
The meeting was attended by District Development Commissioner Anantnag Syed Abid Rashid
Shah, Additional Deputy Commissioner Anantnag
and dealers of oil companies in the district.
Mr Veeri issued strict directions to the officers
to issue free cooking gas connections to the deserving ones only in the district.
He asked the officers to ensure that LPG connections reach to the Below Poverty Line (BPL)
households which have been aimed at the scheme.

Mr Veeri said that providing LPG connections

to BPL households will ensure universal coverage
of cooking gas in the country. He said that these
measures will empower women and protect their
health that were depended on fire wood.
The DDC assured the Minister that accountability will be maintained at all the levels of distribution.
The Minister asked the officers to use different
agencies for the scrutiny of the distributing list.
The dealers assured the Minister cooperation
in ensuring that only deserving ones will get the
free cooking gas connections.

CONTINUE FROM PAGE 1.......................

JK

Medical Education, Bali Bhagat, Minister

of State for Health & Medical Education, Asiea
Naqash, Chief Secretary, B R Sharma, Financial Commissioner Planning and Principal
Secretary to CM, B B Vyas, Secretary Health,
Mandeep Bhandari, Director SKIMS, Dr A G
Ahangar, besides other members of Governing Body including Prof M S Khuroo, former
Director SKIMS, Prof Puneet Dhar, Chairman,
Gastrointestinal Surgery and Liver Transplant
Services, AIIMS, Kochi, Kerala, Principal, GMC,
Jammu, Principal, GMC, Srinagar, Principal,
SKIMS, Medical College/ Hospital Bemina,
Srinagar, Prof Khursheed Alam, HoD General Surgery, SKIMS, Prof Samia Rashid, Prof
General Medicine, GMC Srinagar and Prof
Altaf Ramzan, HoD Neurosurgery SKIMS were
also present in the meeting.
In order to keep pace with recent advances and to update their knowledge and
skills, the Chief Minister said that the SKIMS
faculty members may be allowed a sabbatical leave of 1 year after every five years. She
added that the faculty strength should not
however be affected and needs to be maintained as per MCI regulations.
Regarding participation of the faculty
members in National and International Conferences, the Chief Minister said that the
norms of such participation and the duration
should be looked into and preferably based
on the criteria in vogue in other renowned
institutions of the country like AIIMS, New
Delhi.
On creation of Trauma-Emergency Medicine Centre at SKIMS to help decongest the
present hospital and address issues regarding paucity of Operation Theatres and beds,
the Chief Minister asked the Director SKIMS
to work out the details and engage a professional consultancy for the purpose.
With regard to another important decision for installation of PET-CT Scanner for
diagnosis of Cancer patients at SKIMS, the
Chief Minister asked Director SKIMS to expedite the process so as to upgrade modern
medical facilities for the people relieving
them of travelling outside the state for this
facility. It was informed that the matter has
been taken up with Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) authorities for the necessary approval. Meanwhile, Secretary Health
was directed to follow up the matter with
AERB.
Regarding construction of maternity
hospital at SKIMS, the Chief Minister asked
Financial Commissioner Planning, Development and Monitoring Department to seek
status report from the executing agency ie
JKPCC Ltd.
Perspective plan for establishment of
State Cancer Institute at SKIMS which will
have facility for 120 bedded IPD Block for
cancer patients and Personnel Promotion
Scheme Rules for faculty of SKIMS Medical

College/ Hospital were also discussed in the

meeting.
The Chief Minister also stressed that
primary and secondary healthcare in the
state needs to be strengthened so that there
may be lesser burden on the tertiary care
health institutions which could focus more
on specialty care.
Regarding the new Governing Body, the
Chief Minister said that a relatively young
team has been selected to be on the board
from the serving doctors who are supposed
to be stakeholders and whose presence on
the Governing Body shall add value to it.
Earlier, Director SKIMS gave a detailed
presentation regarding the facilities and
patient care being provided at the institute.
He informed that to enhance the cancer treatment facilities at the institute Ward 2P for
cancer surgery patients has been established
and Linear Accelerator for providing Radiation Therapy to Cancer patients has been
installed. He also presented the action taken
report on the decisions taken in the 42nd
Governing Body meeting of SKIMS.

On

Reports said that a group of masked youth

appeared at Hari Singh High Street and
started ransacking vehicles glasses and goods
of street vendors for defying shutdown. The
youths also pelted stones on passing vehicles
and on auto-rickshaws. The attack by youths
created panic in the area and later the police
arrived on the spot. The youths managed to
flee successfully.
The reports of ransacking of vehicles were
also received from Old City areas after 5pm.
A police official said soon after the deployment of forces were withdrawn, groups of
youth appeared on roads at Eidgah, Bohri
Kadal, Nowhatta, Safa Kadal and Noorbagh
and pelted stones on vehicles, resulting in
damage to them.
In the evening, all the markets across
Srinagar opened in the wake of resistance
programme of deal in strike after 5pm. The
city markets including Lal Chowk witnessed
huge rush of people and there were reports
of heavy traffic jam from many civil lines
areas. The shutdown was also reported from
all the parts of Kashmir Valley. At Pulwama,
masked youths carrying sticks appeared on
roads at Hospital Road, Muran, Kangan and
other areas and resorted to ransacking of
shops, vehicles and street vendors goods for
defying shutdown.
Detailing the situation, a police spokesman said: Situation across the valley remained
peaceful. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the valley till filing of
this report. At Hari Singh High Street some
miscreants pelted stones on some vehicles
and also tried to ransack some vendors. The
police immediately swung into action and
chased the miscreants away. An FIR has been
lodged in Police Station Shaheed Gunj in this

regard, he said.
Meanwhile constant increase in vehicles
and pedestrian movement was noticed in
Srinagar and other main towns of the valley.
Shops were seen open in many parts of the
valley and the vendors were busy in their
routine job in chowks and on busy streets,
the police spokesman said.
Adequate deployment of police and security forces was made at vulnerable points
in Srinagar city, in main towns as also on the
roads, lanes and by-lanes connecting different places, he added.(GNS)

Shutdown

new protest calendar.

The shutdown as per the joint statement
issued to KNS has been extended upto November 03.
Date, Activities
Friday, October 28
(No Relaxation)
Jamia Masjid Srinagar Military Siege Break
From 7 am, March one & all form entire
Jammu & Kashmir towards Jamia Masjid
Srinagar to break the military siege laid around
Jamia Masjid by Indian state for consecutive
15 Fridays and not allowing Kashmiris to
offer Friday prayer at Jamia Masjid;Indian
state has always used forceas an occupational tool to deprive the people, of their
basic and fundamental rights including those
concerned with their religion & faith;
Post Friday prayer, Freedom Congregation
will be held in Shehar-i-Khas, where Joint
Resistance Leadership will address the nation;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth
Volunteers of Srinagar (especially Shehar-iKhas) coordinate & ensure the arrangements
Saturday, October 29
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 7 am)
Tehsil Headquarters Azadi Road Shows
From 7 am, join Azadi Road Shows and
march towards Tehsil Headquarters. March
on two wheelers (Motorcycles & Bicycles)
and march by foot;
If and wherever stopped, assemble, occupy and protest at that place till 4 pm;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth
Volunteers of these areas coordinate and
ensure the arrangements
Sunday, October 30
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 7 am)
Graffiti Day
Paint all roads, lanes, walls, posts & poles
with resistance slogans;
Offer Zuhr on roads and protest afterwards
till 4 pm at local chowks, centers and market
places
Monday, October 31
(No Relaxation)
Employees March to District Headquarters
From 9 am, All the employees march
towards respective District Headquarters
and organise Freedom Congregation from
11 am to 4 pm;

Express solidarity with the employees

who have been detained, arrested and terminated for their courageous resistance
during present peoples uprising against
Indian occupation;
All the employees organizations coordinate and ensure arrangements for this march
Tuesday, November 01
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 7 am)
Womens Day
Assemble & Occupy local chowks and
centres from Zuhr to Asr in the vicinity of
your mohallas, villages and localities;
Protest with Flags, Placards and Banners
with Freedom messages and slogans
Wednesday, November 02
(Relaxation from 5 pm to 7 am)
Hyhama, Wagoora, Banokoot, Nagam,
Sherpathri, Qamarwari (South), Aripal, Chitrigam, Pombay, Larnoo Freedom March
From 7 am,March one& all from Kupwara
to Hyhama, Baramulla to Wagoora, Bandipora to Bonakoot, Budgam to Nagam, Ganderbal to Sherpathri, Srinagar to Qamarwari
(South), Pulwama to Aripal, Shopian to Chitrigam, Kulgam to Pombay and Islamabad to
Larnoo;
Post Zuhr prayer, hold Freedom Congregation at the place identified and agreed
upon locally and mutually;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth
Volunteers of these Blocks coordinate and
ensure the arrangements
Thursday, November 03
(No Relaxation)
One Day Azadi Convention
Neighbouring villages and localities organize one day Azadi convention from 11 am
to 4 pm in respective areas;
Deliberate and discuss ways and means
to strengthen the ongoing Peoples uprising
for freedom from Indian occupation;
Resistance/Masjid Committees/Youth
Volunteers of these areas coordinate and
ensure the arrangements
Directions For All Days
1. Protests be held across Jammu & Kashmir.
2. Shutdown across Jammu & Kashmir
on all days except for the relaxation mentioned
in the program.
3. Relaxation period is forall including
Public and private transportas well as factories and other industrial unit holders.
4. Public & private vehicular movement
not to be stopped after 10 pm to 7 am on all
nights.
5. Lockdown all the routes entering your
Mohallas, Villages and Localities by every means
during night to protect people in general and
youth in particular from the raids and arrests
by Indian forces and J&K Police.
6. Play Islamic and Azadi Taranas from
Maghrib to Isha on all days.
7. Paste this Protest Program Poster on
the entrance of every mosque and in Market
places, Mohallas & Local Chowks. (KNS)

KashmirPen

03

NEWS

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

ZULFKAR LAUNCHES PMUY FOR

BUDGAM, SAYS GOVT COMMITTED
FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
PMUY TO IMPROVE WOMEN HEALTH, SAVE FORESTS: HANJURA

BUDGAM, OCT 26: Minister

for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, today said
the State Government would
take every possible step for welfare of women and Pradhan
Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
scheme is a step towards the
same.
The Minister said this after
rolling out PMUY scheme for
District Budgam by symbolic
distribution of gas coupons
among Below Poverty Line (BPL)
women here.
Minister for Agriculture,
Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura and
MLC Saifuddin Bhat were also
attended the function.
Speaking on the occasion,
Mr. Zulfkar Ali said that the
present dispensation is keen to
work for the overall uplift of
women in the State.
Giving reference from a report published by the World
Health Organization (WHO), he
said that more than five lakh
women die annually by using
unclean fuel for cooking. There-

fore, the Minister said, it becomes

imperative to make the scheme
a success by replacing traditional firewood with clean fuel.
He informed that the Government is working towards
ensuring that the benefits of the
scheme reach all women falling
in BPL category by 2018. So far
the scheme has already been
launched in 16 districts, including Budgam, he said.
He asked the concerned DC
to check if there are any irregularities in the present list of
beneficiaries. He also directed
the DC to make one more list of
left out beneficiaries.
Mr. Zulfkar hailed Chief
Minister Mehbooba Muftis efforts, who by lobbying at Centre
ensured that J&K is also included to receive the benefits of
PMUY. He said being connected
with the people at the grass root
level, the CM fully understands
the problems women face in
our State.
It may be recalled that the
scheme launched by the Chief
Minister, Ms. Mehbooba Mufti

on September 28, 2016 at SKICC.

The Minister informed the gathering that, so far, around one
lakh women falling under BPL
category have received LPG connections under PMUY since its
launch.
The Minister further informed that 350 Fair Price Shops
would soon be opened in the

district.
Speaking on the occasion,
Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam
Nabi Lone Hanjura, appreciated
the scheme saying it would not
only improve health situation
of women living in rural or forest areas, but would also save
our forests as people living near
these areas used to get fire wood

PM holds 16th PRAGATI video

conference with Chief Secretaries
REVIEWS PROGRESS OF E-NAM, AMRUT

SRINAGAR: Prime Minister, Mr

Narendra Modi Wednesday held his
16th monthly video conference under
his Pro-active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) initiative, with Union Secretaries of various
Ministries and Chief Secretaries of
States. Chief Secretary J&K, B R Sharma also participated in the video
conference.
The Prime Minister besides reviewing progress of various Central Projects
also reviewed the Status of the National Agriculture Market (NAM) and
AMRUT.
NAM is a pan India electronic
portal for sale and purchase of agricultural produce. The Union Government is providing necessary assistance
including Rs 30 Lakh per Mandi, software, IT experts and training for the

successful implementation of e-NAM.

Union Agriculture Secretary, S K
Pattanayak informed that NAM was
launched in April 2016 and till date
250 Mandis have been integrated on
the e-NAM Platform. The target is to
integrate as many as 585 markets by
March 2018.
Prime Minister asked Union Agriculture Secretary to proactively
sensitize State governments about
theimplementationandtheconsequent
benefits of e-NAM. He urged State
Governments to make the necessary
amendments in the State Agricultural Produce Market Committee
(APMC) Act to bring it at par with the
National Model APMC Act.
Prime Minister also asked State
Governments to share with the PMO
and Union Agriculture Ministry any

suggestion on improving the overall

user friendly experience of e-NAM.
While reviewing the Status of
AMRUT, Prime Minister urged State
Governments to ensure that the approved action plan is expeditiously
implemented on ground for the benefit of the citizenry.
Union Urban Development Secretary, Mr Rajiv Gauba informed that
Annual Action Plans for 2015-16 and
2016-17 to the tune of Rs 46000 Crore
under AMRUT have been approved.
He said with 57% of the funds being
spent on Water Supply and 36% on
Sewerage networks, it is expected
that within next few years 100 cities
with over 1 Lakh population will see
marked improvement in both pipe
water supply and sewerage network
system.

from there for cooking purposes.

Lauding Zulfkar Ali and his
Department, Mr. Lone said that
despite unrest he did not receive
a single complaint in district
Budgam from any quarter for
not getting ration or any essential commodity. He also congratulated the Minister for
starting Fair Price Scheme, adding that it would not only improve
services of the Department, but
also provide jobs to many.
He asked FSC&CA Minister
to review PMUY list of beneficiaries formulated by the district
administration, and put a check
on irregularities if found, so that
benefit of the scheme reach to
deserving people only.
Secretary FCS&CA Shafiq
Raina, District Development
Commissioner Budgam Mir
Altaf Ahmad, Director FCS&CA
Tassaduq Jeelani, ex-MLA Dr.
Shafi Ahmad Wani, SSP Budgam
and representatives from various Oil companies, along with
citizens from various walks of
life attended the function.

Secretary Health
reviews NHM status
SRINAGAR, OCT 26: Secretary Health
and Medical Education, Dr M K Bhandari
today convened a meeting to review the
progress of various schemes under National Health Mission (NHM).
State Mission Director, NHM Dr Mohan Singh, State Nodal Officer Dr Mohammad Shafi Koka, Director Health
Services Kashmir Dr. Saleem-ur-Rehman, Divisional Nodal Officer Dr Mushtaq
Ahmad Dar and all Chief Medical Officers
of Health department were present in
the meeting.
During the meeting, it was informed
that Jammu & Kashmir has been appreciated by Government of India for performing
well in the last financial year (2015-2016)
in timely utilization of funds, thereby earning 4 per cent over and above the stipulated resource envelope.
In this meeting, the Secretary was informed about the steps being taken to bring
down the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR). Every
year, the indicators of maternal and child
health are improving in the State, he was
told.
Secretary Health directed the officials
to update the information on time regarding Health Management Information System
(HMIS) and Mother & Child Tracking System
(MCTS) on National Portal.

KashmirPen

KASHMIR PEN
EDITORIAL

Overcome a
real challenge
The termination of some government employees by the government for their alleged role
in fomenting the recent unrest
has been met with sharp criticism by major sections of the
society including many from the
mainstream political camp. The
government's action against its
own employees seems to be aimed
at bringing the recent unrest
under control but how can authorities ignore all that go around
them as government employees
are part and parcel of the society.
Though the names of the employees have not been made public but as per some media reports,
they belong to a variety of departments including education
and health. One may question
whether it is an old tactic. This
is the first time since the 1990s
that the government has acted
against employees on grounds
of involvement in anti-national
activities. During early 90s when
the militancy was at its peak,
same was done as the government employees had been at the
forefront of the protests. Whatever the situation, be it 90s or
2016, the move should be to try
and win the anti-national employees back and same should
be case with the arrested youth
to bring them to mainstream.
That would be a wise step. The
current crackdown against government employees is a peripheral action, as opined by a retired
bureaucrat, with undetermined
benefits. If the governments
objective is to build a nation while
maintaining law and order, just
crackdowns wont help but the
need to find and overcome the
real challenge of instilling a
hope of peace in people is required.

04

EDIT

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

Literature,

unplugged

In the space of two years, the Nobel

has shed decades of conservatism, and
twice redefined what it considers, and
what we must consider, literature
? ? VAIBHAVSHARMA

n 1997, Eric Zorn, a columnist in the Chicago

Tribune, advocated for
Bob Dylan to be awarded
the Nobel Prize. And
though it's likely that snobbery
will forever doom the chances of
a folk-rock musician to join the
roster of past winners that includes
such literary giants as William
Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John
Steinbeck, Saul Bellow and Toni
Morrison, Zorn wrote, the truth
is that, for multi-faceted talent
with language and sustained international impact, few if any
living writers are Dylan's equal.
A century earlier, in 1896, when
the literature prizes founding
charter was read out from Alfred
Nobels will, it recommended the
award be conferred on the person
who shall have produced in the
field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.
Charter from another age
Alfred Nobels directive was
formed in a time when the nineteenth century forms of the novel and the short story, along with
the classical mediums of poetry
and drama, constituted the zenith
of literary expression. Nobels
charter could not have imagined
how these forms would remain
significant and robust, but steadily become inadequate in representing the whole of lived experience in the twentieth century, the
most violent in human history.
As the Nobel approached its
centenary, around the time of Zorns
plea to award Dylan the literature
prize, it was clear that novels, poems,
short stories and plays were not the
sole expressions of literary prestige
and value, but part of a wider constellation which included nonfiction
reportage, narrative history and
biography, academic treatises such
as Edward Saids Orientalism and
as acknowledged by Dylans award
the great tradition of songwriting,
coming of age in the radical tumult
of the 1960s.
But, as recently as two years
ago, there lingered the sense that
the Nobel remained, to its detriment, too faithful to its founding
charter and strangely reluctant
to recognise the varied art forms
that so powerfully enhanced our

understanding of the modern age.

For every inspired choice, such as
J.M. Coetzee or Mo Yan, there was
a J.M.G. Le Clzio and a Patrick
Modiano, which was evidence of
a wearing retreat into a provincial,
post-war European vision, one
curiously at odds with the epoch
being lived by the vast majority
of the worlds citizens, of technological innovation, ever-imaginative forms of state terror and
modern, industrial forms of violence and devastation.
It seemed the Nobel committee was reluctant to recognise that
Europe was no longer the centre
of economic and intellectual ferment, that countries such as India
and China would shape the destiny of our still-nascent century
far more than the Old Continent.
Yet in an era of Europes rapidly
declining significance to the world
at large, 15 of the past 20 Laureates
(before Dylan) were European. In
2008, in a statement that might
have been true five decades previously, Horace Engdahl, the thenpermanent secretary of the Nobel
committee, said, Europe is still
the centre of the literary world.
However, awarding the prize
to Dylan, and last year to the Belarusian journalist Svetlana
Alexievich, allow us to tentatively suggest that the Nobels horizons,
at last, may be becoming more
expansive and modern.
The prize to Alexievich, a worthy successor to the great Polish
journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski,
gave a clue to the Nobel committees changing priorities. In a piece
in the New Yorker, Nonfiction
Wins a Nobel, the writer Philip
Gourevitch quoted from one of
Alexievichs essays in which she
declared that art has failed to
understand many things about
people. Alexievich argued that,
in our present age, when man
and the world have become so
multifaceted and diversified,
journalistic documentation remained the best way of representing reality, while art as such often
proves impotent.
Capturing our age
In his piece, Gourevitch narrated another fascinating exchange
at the PEN World Voices Festival in
New York where Alexievich stated:
Id like to remember the great

Chekhov, and his play The Three

Sisters. The main character in that
play says over and over, Now life is
terrible, we live in squalor, but in a
hundred years, a hundred years,
how beautiful, how fine everything
will be. And what has happened a
hundred years later? We have Chernobyl; we have the World Trade
Towers collapsing. Its a new age in
history. What we have experienced
now not only goes beyond our
knowledge but also exceeds our
ability to imagine.
Alexievichs prize was, in a sense,
the Nobel committees acknowledgement of a long-overdue corrective. Dylans award furthers that
process, as if the Nobel committee
was hastily making amends for the
decidedly narrow prism with which
it viewed the artistic and cultural
ferment of the past half-century. In
the space of two years, the Nobel
seems to have shed decades of conservatism, and twice redefined what
it considers and what we must
consider literature.
It is also a powerful reinforcement of the oral tradition, the primary method of literary dissemination through the centuries, before
the onslaught of print capitalism in
the West began relegating it to the
margins from the eighteenth century onwards. Salman Rushdie,
delighted by Dylans prize, told the
Guardian: The frontiers of literature
keep widening and its exciting that
the Nobel prize recognises that.
What a blow for diversity of literary
forms that, to access the latest Laureates work, we had to go to iTunes
instead of Amazon.
Dylans award may be something we may never see repeated,
for he is a truly singular figure: a
prophetic bard whose songs contained the force of immediacy,
but were simultaneously universal and timeless. Some of the best
music critics of our time, such as
Alex Ross and David Hajdu, have
written of Dylans dexterity and
towering influence across genres,
which include blues, folk and rockand-roll. The Nobel committee
said they were giving the prize to
Dylan as a great poet in the great
English tradition, stretching from
Milton and Blake onwards.
Vaibhav Sharma is a writer
based in Bengaluru.

KashmirPen

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

ART & CULTURE

05

PADAM SHREE RAJ BEGUM

(1927-2016)

t will be appropriate to term

Raj Begum as the melody queen
of Kashmir. The Legend Raj
Begum shot to limelight in
early fifties by virtue of her
famous songs and magical voice.
Raj Begum whose original name was
Rehti was born in the Maisuma area of
Srinagar during the Dogra Rule in Kashmir. She started her career as an amateur
singer finally turning professional singer in the water shed years of 1947.In 1950
at the age of 17 years with All India Radio started with regular broadcasting
from Srinagar Station Raj Begum got
associated with the Choral Group of famous Chakri singers of Kashmir.
One of the sarangi players namely
Gh. Qadir Langoo discovered this young
talent and inspired and persuaded her
to let her voice for professional singing.
Raj right from childhood had a leaning and inclination towards vocal music
but the hand to mouth living of her parents did not let her fulfill her wishes.
Since there was no tradition of sending
girls for formal education the fate of Raj
Begum also remained like other girls of
Kashmir of that time. But God had bestowed her excellent retentive memory
which helped her overcome the shortcomings in the field of reading the scripts.
Raj Begum started her career as a
professional singer when the social boycott against singers was at its peak because
of bad name it had earned during the
period of Sikh and Pathan rulers.
Raj Begum had the magic in her voice.
Her first solo song took her to the new
heights of fame and popularity. With
the passage of time she became the heart
throb of music lovers of Kashmir. She
became popular in other parts of the
state as well.
Raj Begum was the contemporary of
famous female singers of Kashmir like
Tara Begum, Zoon Begum & Naseem
Akhtar. Association of the fellow artists
like Gh. Mohammad Bhat, Gh. Moham-

Raj Begum has the mystic facet

of her personality which she has inherited from
predecessor singers of Kashmir who by virtue of
their art and dedication are believed to have
come closer to the God. It could probably be a
reason that the magic of her voice is same as
that of her teenage
mad Rah, Ali Mohammad , Mohan Lal
Aima, Gh. Mohi-Ud-Din Balpuri, G. Q.
Langoo and many more added more
charisma to the art and personality of
Raj Begum.
During that period there was no institution functional in the state that could
mend the raw talent to become professionals. Raj Begum thus shared the fate
of many more talented people like her
who died unsung. But the patronage by
the then Prime Minister of Kashmir Bakshi Gh. Mohammad and the guidance
by the instrumentalist G. Q. Langoo shaped
the artist better.
Stalwart composers like Qaisar Qalander, Virendra Mohan, Nassar-Ullah
Khan , Mohan Lal Aima composed music par excellence for Raj Begum and Raj
Begum wholeheartedly rendered her
voice for these beautiful compositions
and the blending of two resulted in the
production of master piece and charismatic songs that are all time relevant

and equally liked by the all the generations.

Raj Begum had set a trend and legacy in vocal music of Kashmir.
The instrumentalists playing different instruments for Raj Begums compositions are said to have played with
heart. They have confessed having been
involved by all means in making Raj
Begums songs eternal.
Raj Begum has the mystic facet of
her personality which she has inherited
from predecessor singers of Kashmir
who by virtue of their art and dedication
are believed to have come closer to the
God. It could probably be a reason that
the magic of her voice is same as that of
her teenage.
Raj Begum had impressed all her
audiences and listeners with her magical voice and the niceties of her musical
renderings.
Raj Begum was one of the singers of
Kashmir who had excellent folk as well

as modern age songs to their credit.

Raj Begum in recognition to her contributions to the field of music in Kashmir was honoured with Padma Shree in
the 2002.
The transition of this cultural legacy
from Raj Begum to the present generation of youth is laudable and appreciable
at all costs.
Raj Begum had a distinction of having rendered her playback voice to
feature film MEHJOOR which is a
history in itself. In recognition to her
contributions to the field of music during her active career, she was conferred
with Padma Shree that gave this artist
a recognition and reprieve for the
struggle she had made in this field during the turbulent times and unfavourable circumstances.
We mark a tribute to this nightingale
of Kashmir who breathed her last on
Wednesday 26th Oct. 2016 at the age of
89.

KashmirPen

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

GLOBAL NEWS & VIEWS

06

RUSSIA, CHINA CAN HELP

KASHMIR TENSIONS
? ? DmitriTrenin
This year's BRICS Summit at Goa, India,
will be held amid heightened Indo-Pakistani tensions in Kashmir and fears of a
war between the nuclear powers. Earlier
in September, 19 Indian soldiers died as a
result of a terrorist attack which Delhi
blamed on groups supported by Islamabad
and India killed two Pakistani soldiers
with "surgical strikes." It also led a successful boycott of a regional summit of
South Asian nations that was meant to be
held in Pakistan.
India sees Pakistan as its historical
adversary, and China as Pakistan's traditional ally. From Delhi's perspective, Islamabad is merely a regional competitor,
while Beijing is a strategic rival. This is
hardly propitious environment for the
expansion of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), which both Delhi and
Islamabad are set to join in 2017.
Interestingly, Russia, a long-time
friend of India during the Cold War, is
now taking a more balanced approach
toward the region. To the consternation
of many in Delhi, the recent surge of
violence in Kashmir did not lead Moscow
to cancel, or even postpone its firstever military exercise with Pakistan,
which has just been completed. Russia's
behavior clears away the last remnants
of the Cold War-era geopolitical set-up,
in which the Moscow-Delhi axis opposed
the Beijing-Islamabad one.
Recent developments highlight the
fact that BRICS, SCO and RIC (RussiaIndia-China, an informal gathering of

the three) are not only clubs of likeminded non-Western nations seeking
to advance a multipolar world order, but
also groups of countries which cooperate as well as compete among themselves.
To make credible their claim to a larger
role in global governance, these countries
need first to learn to manage their own
differences and prevent conflicts.
Sino-Russian relations are a good
example of two major neighboring powers having de facto accepted a formula
of "never being against each other, but
not necessarily always with each other."
This formula squarely puts a premium
on a solid partnership between Moscow
and Beijing where their interests meet,
eschews conflicts where they don't, and
allows a lot of flexibility where interests
overlap only partially. Russia and China
will probably never become full allies;
the important thing is that they abhor
mutual hostility, and have mastered their

differences.
Indo-Russian relations remain essentially warm and friendly even as they
have lost their long-time exclusivity for
both partners: another sign of maturity.
Both countries have diversified their
foreign policies away from focusing too
much on each other. Delhi has reached
out to Washington, Moscow has warmed
to Islamabad. Yet, India and Russia have
stayed close partners. The principal issue
in that relationship remains its chronically weak economic foundation.
In recent years, China and India have
managed to repair their ties, primarily
by expanding bilateral economic relations. Yet, the relationship remains asymmetrical and laden with mistrust. At
the back of their minds, many members
of the Indian political class view China
with suspicion, even fear. This state of
affairs is unhealthy, and requires patient
treatment by both Delhi and Beijing.

"We Miss You Colonel Gaddafi,"

Cry the Troubled Libyans
? ? Tatenda Gwaambuka
One Mahommed, a 31 year old Libyan spoke words that
largely resonated with the general feeling in his country. He said,
I joined the revolution in the first days and fought against Gaddafi. Before 2011, I hated Gaddafi more than anyone. But now,
life is much, much harder, and I have become his biggest fan.
The country has seen a five-fold increase in the cost of food,
unpaid salaries for months, the rise of Islamic State terror and
worsening electricity black-outs. Nothing improved after Gaddafi
and the country sees it now. Mahmoud, another Libyan added
his own words of disappointment in the bitter fruits of the
revolution, We have had seven governments since 2011 and
what have they achieved?' The only thing we can see is new
dustbins because one of the early governments installed these
new large bins across Tripoli. We still point to them and laugh,
saying it's the only achievement of the revolution.
An oil worker named Haroun said getting rid of Gaddafi
was clearly a mistake because we werent ready for democracy and we needed support from the international community, which just wasnt there. The West was eager to bomb
but aborted the mission to restructure and help rebuild the
ruins left in the aftermath of the bombings. Libyans were left
to figure out a democracy they had not had for more than four
decades on their own resulting in numerous groups claiming
power using military means. Political activist Fadiel told the
Dailymail that although it should be better than Gaddafis

time now, all that remained is chaos and everyone fighting

each other, its just a mess.
Another Libyan who spoke about the countrys situation
boldly said, Libya died with Gaddafi. We are not a nation
anymore, we have become just warring groups of tribes, towns
and cities. Before, there was just one Gaddafi but now we have
six million little Gaddafis. The country has three governments
all unwilling to compromise. There were two governments
but another has been imposed on the country by the West
through the United Nations. The country is so polarised that
a former Libyan diplomat is on record saying, The country is
already divided. We have two governments, two parliaments,
two Central banks and two National Oil Companies.
As if this is not enough, the Islamic State has firmly held
the city of Sirte for some time causing fears that this will
become the factory of terrorist activity producing hardcore

Otherwise, both countries will be seeking to check each other's rise rather than
profiting from it.
Before India and Pakistan enter the
SCO, Russia and China should make an
effort to help them prevent future conflicts. This is not going to be easy, and
any direct interference in the Kashmir
issue should be avoided from the start.
Yet, failing to help manage the relationship now carries a serious risk for the
entire SCO project started by Beijing and
Moscow 15 years ago. So, China and Russia owe it to themselves to begin defusing tensions between their partners.
Russia has experience with peacemaking in South Asia. 50 years ago, in
January 1966, Soviet prime minister
Alexei Kosygin successfully mediated
between India' and Pakistan to end the
second Indo-Pakistani war. In the 21st
century, with both India and Pakistan
as nuclear powers, stopping a war between them is no longer an option: Wars
should be prevented.
BRICS and RIC summits are opportunities for multilateral diplomacy. The
focus of the leaders' efforts should be
not just global governance but also improved relations among leading nonWestern powers. De facto, Russia, India
and China bear the prime responsibility
for peace, stability and prosperity in
Continental Asia. They should rise to the
occasion.
The author is director of the
Carnegie Moscow Center.
Source:Global Times

jihadist extremist fighters. The West has however jumped

into the fray helping regain some ground from the IS fighters.
The latest attack by the United States was an airstrike on the
1st of August. The other powers have been largely secretive
about their intervention but a new militant group, Benghazi
Defence Brigades killed three French in July 2016.
Former diplomat Abdusalem is not the most objective of
characters but the sense of his words is difficult to argue with.
He says, The so-called revolution was lies, all lies. We Libyans
did not even know what the word revolution meant. We had
been sheltered under Qaddafi for 42 years. It was not Libya's
revolution, it was NATO's revolution because they wanted to
get rid of Gaddafi. Though it is a slight exaggeration since
some people genuinely wanted Gaddafi out of power, it is true
that NATO hijacked the cause and furthered its own ends with
no regard for the future of the country. Obama admitted it
was no longer an intervention for the right reasons but had
become (Frances) Sarkozy and (Britains) Camerons shit-show.
Cameron was also ruled to be ultimately responsible for
the chaos in Libya by a recent report by his countrys legislature. Though NATO says it intervened to protect civilians,
Salem, a 26 year old medical student from Tripoli has argued,
Far more people have been killed since 2011 than during the
revolution or under 42 years of Gaddafis rule combined. We
never had these problems under Gaddafi. It is estimated that
there are over 1,700 armed groups which rose as a result of
the revolution; now politics in Libya cannot be determined
by ballots but guns and bombs. The people of Libya have
never been worse off. The democracy they hoped for has not
come and to add insult to injury, there is no peace and the
greatest terrorist organisation of this time is attempting to
establish its base in the country. To quote the words of a citizen, Libya died with Gaddafi.
Interviews with Libyan citizens were carried out by
the Daily Mail.

KashmirPen

07

Q&A

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

SHOWKAT NANDA
SHOWKAT NANDA, an award winning Kashmiri
photojournalist, who in a very short span of time has carved a
place for himself, not just in the State of Jammu & Kashmir,
but also internationally. Now pursuing a specialized course in
Documentary Photojournalism from Missouri School of
Journalism, USA, Nanda took out time to answer a few
questions for The Cherry Tree

Some extracts from interaction with Sarah Kabeer.

Q. Very few Kashmiris have been
able to walk away with the prestigious
Fulbright Fellowship. How did all this
happen ?

pictures I become nothing more than a

viewer- a common man who identifies
with these people.bound
Q. Have you ever felt that your pictures have had an impact on others?

S.NANDA: In 2012, I received Fulbright

Fellowship to pursue a specialized study
in Documentary Photojournalism for
two years at Missouri School of Journalism, which is considered as one of the
best journalism schools in the world.
Fulbright fellowship is an award conferred
to those who show extraordinary excellence in their respective fields of study.
It is a yearlong process during which you
are tested and interviewed at different
levels.

S.NANDA: It is said that a photograph

is not the whole truth but an isolated
part of the reality. No single photograph
or even a few hundred photographs can
successfully portray a place like Kashmir.
It is so vast in terms of stories that portraying it successfully will take decades
or even centuries.
I dont know if I have been successful
in portraying some part of the reality in
Kashmir but it is satisfying when you
are able to get others feel about the feelings of the people in your photographs.

Q. From Baramulla town to an award

winning photojournalist. How has the
journey been?
S.NANDA: My father is a retired highschool teacher and my mother is a homemaker. I am youngest amongst the three
siblings. Fundamentally, I have been a
very shy and reticent person. Coming
all the way from Baramulla, I studied at
Noor-ul-Islam and Hanfia Model School.
Never a good speaker, but I loved to write
and draw cartoons.
As a child, I would spend most of my
time painting and drawing cartoons of
my friends. I think the journey of photojournalism actually began from there.
However, I grew up with the dream
of becoming a successful doctor. By the
time I was 12, the conflict in Kashmir
had already escalated into a full-blown
small-scale war. Everything was uncertain. The unique experiences I had after
that urged me to express myself through
visuals.
Q. Professionally, what have been
your high points?
S.NANDA: I got my first award in
2006 for a short film, which I had directed as a student. In 2011, I was declared
the winner of the National Press Photo
Contest, the most prestigious photojournalism award in India. My picture, which
depicted three widowed Kashmiri sisters,
was chosen as Picture of the Year besides
winning the first prize in general news
category. My other picture that depicted a masked Kashmiri boy throwing
stones got third prize in same category.
I have had several exhibitions of my
work, both locally and internationally.
Currently, my work is being exhibited
at Chiang Mai Documentary Arts Festi-

Q. After Kashmir, out of your comfort zone, how has been your experience?

I dont know if I have been

successful in portraying some part
of the reality in Kashmir but it is
satisfying when you are able to get
others feel about the feelings of the
people in your photographs

S.NANDA: Well, every place is different in one sense or the other. For a
photographer, context is extremely important. The work I have done in Kashmir is obviously different from what I
have been doing here in US because of
the varying socio-political context. It is
often challenging for a photographer to
come out of his comfort zone and shoot
something thats entirely different. For
instance, for me who has always been
photographing different aspects of the
political conflict in Kashmir, shooting a
national football game or climate change
or even daily life in a different setting
like US is bound to be a different experience. It always feels good when I make
compelling pictures at a place I know
nothing about. But I believe that your
best comes from a place you know the
best. For me, thats Kashmir.
Q. How has been the journey so far?

val in Thailand, an international exhibition on Kashmir organized by Emaho

Magazine in collaboration with Documentary Arts Asia.
Q. Three widowed Kashmiri Sisters.
Did that picture in anyway have had
an impact on your psyche or on you
work?
S.NANDA: The photograph depicted
three widowed Kashmiri sisters who
had lost their husbands in the ongoing
conflict in Kashmir.

Being a Kashmiri means having grown

up with experiences which not only
shaped my perception about the world
but also gave a new dimension to the
way I expressed myself. My photographs
on Kashmir, most of which are conflictrelated, are not only about the people I
have photographed; its also about myself.
When I am behind the camera, I look
through the viewfinder as an unbiased
photographer. I try to detach myself from
whatever is happening on other side of
the camera. But when I look at my own

S.NANDA: The journey has been

interesting but hard at the same time. It
takes a lot of perseverance to keep going
especially when you are working for a
newspaper or an agency. I thank God for
being so generous to me and giving me
enough courage to do justice to what I
am doing.

Source : www.thecherrytree.in

KashmirPen

08

SOCIETY

THURSDAY | 27-October-2016

A Mysterious Girl
? ? Mohammad Aleem
CHAPTER FOUR:
Note: This is a story about a brave girl,
Husn Bano. She is the only daughter of a rich
merchant. Suddenly, her father falls ill and
dies. She loses all interest of living a life. But
her wise maidservant saves her from falling in
such harm. She instigates her interest in life
and finally says to her that you can also find a
worth preserving purpose of life with a dynamic life partner.
Her quest to finding a life partner of
her choice starts and she coins a strange
way to achieve that goal. She meets a
holy man and finally sees in him as a
prospective life partner. But, she receives
a great shock of her life when she finds
out that the holy man was actually a
thief in disguise who had very close ties
with the king unfortunately.
She brings this case to the king.....
The next day, Husn Bano brought
this news to the king in hope that she
would get justice. He asked, What happened to you? What brought you here
in so hasty a manner?
Husn Bano could not hold her tears.

The kings rage shot to a new height when she

repeated the same thing again. He asked to his
police chief to arrest this audacious girl and put her
behind the bars because she had dared to label the
serious charges against a man of pious and noble
nature and deeds. She should be punished
severely for such acts.

It started flowing on her cheeks as it was

waiting for such moment to burst out.
She narrated the whole story with
bated breath. But, instead of making this
revelation angry to the king towards the
holy man, he showed his anger to her.
He said in quite enraged voice, O, nave
girl, do you know what you are saying?
The person against whom you have levelled such serious charges is the most
pious man of my kingdom. We all give
him a great regard. I know him for quite
a long time. How a man of such deep
faith in God could do such mean thing

in his life? There may be some other men

behind this crime. But, whoever has done
so; he will be caught and brought to
justice, soon. My kingdoms laws are
pretty much clear about it.
But, Husn Bano was sure that the
man who had committed this hateful
crime in her mansion was none other
than that holy man. Her eyes cant lie.
She said to herself, murmuring.
The kings rage shot to a new height
when she repeated the same thing again.
He asked to his police chief to arrest this
audacious girl and put her behind the

bars because she had dared to label the

serious charges against a man of pious
and noble nature and deeds. She should
be punished severely for such acts.
An old minister was standing and
watching all the drama unfolding before
his eyes, said to the king, Our revered
king, there might not be an iota of truth,
what she has told to us, but, she is the
daughter of the late rich merchant of our
kingdom who always showed her utter
regards towards you and our kingdom,
should be spared and let free. It seems
that the sad demise of her father has
taken away her sanity from her.
The kind words of the old minister
helped in calming the rage of the king a
bit. He said, OK, let her make free, but,
I dont want to see her in my kingdom
now. She will be exiled.
Husn Banos all mercy appeal fell on
deaf ears. She was forced to do what the
king had asked to do.
(To be continued.........)
Mohammad Aleem is the writer
of four childrens books, The Rainy
Day, In Search of Truth, The Unusual
Stories and An Adventurous Bear,
published by Magnifera Publications
Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi

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