Editorial – Srinagar Observer

The Habitual Shifts

SO NEWS Desk — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 15:17:39 +0000

Electricity tariff in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is anticipated to increase by one rupee per unit. The current tariff is fixed at Rs 4.50 per unit. The increase in the tariff is supposed to affect the thermal power purchase agreement in the valley. The region relies on hydropower with a capacity of 20,000 MW against which only 1500 MW has been harnessed. The solar power purchase agreement in the region is 1600 MW which oversteps the hydropower energy. The power utilisation compared to the power generation is relatively higher as per the statements of the officials. However, the government is attempting to provide a good amount of power for the day-to-day usage of the people of Kashmir. Enhancing the capacity of power generation, development, management, and allowance is being revised by the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Department (JKPDD). With the installation of Smart meters, tariff changes are witnessed by its consumers. The changes are always reported to be higher than before. This irks the people and affects their open reliance on the electricity that reaches their doorsteps. Electricity in the valley has become an unreliable source for the people with the sudden changes either in the schedule or in the tariff. Its system needs to be arranged in a proper consumer-friendly approach. Along with the returns from consumers, the Power Development Department must barter a sufficient amount of power supply to them. In the harsh winter, the maintenance of electricity poses a challenge to both the department and the people.

Assuring Crime Free Society

SO NEWS Desk — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 14:12:10 +0000

Criminal activities have accelerated on an unimaginable pace in the valley leading to the saturation of offenses that could barely be endured. Malefactors in society should not be given hope against their wrongdoings. Crimes done must attract enough punishment to discourage the other person from following the similar kind of activity in future. Acceptance of the fault of one means the denial of justice to many. Introduction of the concerned authority in the valley may help feeding these criminals with suitable and strict punishments for each crime they perform. Since no individual authority enquires about a particular crime, for example, crimes against women which is the most commonly held crime in the region. The recent crime rate has proven that no woman is safe even at their homes. Understanding the factors that catalyses the situation and cause the crimes to grow in society plays an important part in managing the social strands. It is high time for the administration of Jammu and Kashmir to assemble and appoint concerned authorities to offer justice to the victims and restrict such activities in the future. Putting an end to crimes is the prime duty of authorities to assure its people of security. Delaying punishment to such people who have adopted wrong ways for their survival is a clear acceptance of crime. A crime free nation can yield a good generation with a legitimate lifestyle. Only a criminal approach to life can beget criminals.

Stimulating Young Energy

SO NEWS Desk — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 14:31:45 +0000

Along with academic learning, youth always seek opportunities to get admitted to the coaching centers for free. Though free education for competitive education is not widely available in Kashmir, some institutions provide education free of cost. Accompanying education, sports and skills are other sources that help youth achieve their aims. Jammu and Kashmir Mission Youth have helped people in the valley apply for cost-free coaching for various competitive examinations like the civil services. The selected candidates are admitted to various universities and Institutions throughout the country. The Mission has not only proved helpful to the aspirants of civil services but also to sports and entrepreneurship sectors in the region. The valley has had a tremendous effect on the youth who gradually developed evil characteristics and got indulged in evil like drug abuse. The evil disturbed the pattern of their lives and ruined their character. To avoid such circumstances, the Mission Youth Jammu and Kashmir have taken the initiative to help youth get easy access to the fields of sports and education. The skills of the youth are also given a push to grow among them so that they can track their capabilities and search for a similar opportunity in the market. Another option the youth have in their favor is to establish a small-scale business. This can help them provide opportunities to other unemployed youth who are yet to build their career. Boosting the skill sets of the youth, the mission is to encourage them to start a livelihood of their choice on their own to employ their own selves and others. This will help in eradicating the power of established costly coaching institutions.

An Ethical Denial

SO NEWS Desk — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 13:56:49 +0000

One more time and counting; a woman from the district of Budgam in Kashmir has been murdered by a man, far older to her. Misogyny in the valley is growing at a faster pace whether it is the ill treatment of women at the hands of their husbands or in-laws often resulting in domestic violence, or harassment of women in public. Females have been a target for ages. What reasons could be leading factors for violence against women? It makes a big difference when women in society are provided with security to live a safer life. Though all the men cannot be held responsible for crimes that are on rise, those hiding their faces in utter shame must face the music. The young woman murdered in Budgam is an ideal victim of sexism. The big hue and cry should not be left to vanish into thin air. Today’s crime is tomorrow’s pledge. The moment the noose around the neck of a criminal is loosened, another criminal will prepare himself for a similar crime (or the next might be even horrendous). The situation demands justice for women. Denying justice to them is an ethical failure that can be measured in terms of increasing criminal identity in the region.

Beating Inflation

SO NEWS Desk — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 16:08:14 +0000

Inflation in the market price has exasperated people to an extent that most of the articles are beyond their affordability. The need for the introduction of super-saving corporation markets in Kashmir is fundamental in times of dire necessity to meet the daily essential needs of the people. Poverty is existent and the price increases are making people insufficiently full, with barely hoarding anything for future use and increasing in mental distress, and empty-pocketed. Much of the time of the working class is either wasted choosing what to go with or where to get the money from. None of the answers lies in the problem. A decent living for poor people is a distant dream. Treating cost-push inflation in the manifest ways may take time but survival cannot be held back for long. Assisting people with easing the cost of products by launching supersaver markets where they are given huge discounts on their daily purchases. The endeavour might ease their burden and enable them to make purchases with some distinction compared to the actual price of the products in the market. The administration can do this good deed and relief the general public by adding this comfort to their lives. This may also generate employment among the jobless youth of the valley. Along with the daily necessities, these units can take care of engaging young men and women in some convincing work. The stakeholders from across the valley may participate in promoting business opportunities for themselves. These supersaver markets, if established, can save many aspects of people’s lives.

The Timely Exigence

SO NEWS Desk — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 14:09:15 +0000

One of the major aspects of the lives that the present times affect is the psyche of the people. Competition is on the rise and the comparison is engrossing them. Social media has its role to play in their uncomfortable lives and distraught approach, the climax of which has given rise to the frustration of superiority. Innocent people lose their dear lives to traps that don’t actually exist but are formed mentally. Though the option of suicide was always available to man from the very beginning, the present rough times have pushed people to set a novel trend of minimum tolerance to the challenges of life. The soaring number of deaths witnessed every day adds to the worries of the concerned and the mere reason of putting an end to precious lives sparks the startelement in them. The question remains the same whether a man has forgotten the art of enduring the hindrances or the times have become so harsh that they become helpless to opt for a different way however detrimental. Ending lives should have never been an option. The external shoves indeed exert enough pressure to weaken a person that should not be mistaken as an indication of the end of life. Controlling is not easy either for a person who is experiencing mental pressure beforehand. Counseling may help people to come out of their traumas; the traumas that are real and the traumas that seem real but are unusual and unreal for that matter. Opening counseling centers for depressed minds may save people’s lives. With the assistance of the administration, the urgent requirement should be considered on time to motivate the unmotivated youth who are on the way to ending it all.

Extension in Academics

SO NEWS Desk — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:28:03 +0000

Being the only state University in Kashmir, the University of Kashmir has been a center of higher studies and research for ages. This University has preserved the handiness of subjects for masters and research in the valley that are offered by no other higher institution and are otherwise available outside the valley. Possessing a spectacular infrastructure, Kashmir University is regarded highly in terms of imparting higher education and conducting research under a single roof. There are a number of changes the University must consider to alter. One of the major changes needs to be introduced to the extension in subjects offered by the University. The subjects that are widely acquainted across the globe and are the most likely to attract decent jobs. It’s been observed that the subjects on offer are traditional in nature and taste that lack the corporate demand due to which most of the students are not immediately or are never placed in the top-notch companies of the world. A touch of technology is as essential to the students pursuing their higher education in the university as the completion of their degree. Introduction of the subjects that could lead them to make their ways through the difficult trails their career places in front of them can make a big difference in their lives. Support from the University should be the prime facilitation provided to the students to ensure their successful placement after the completion of their degrees. The plea must be counted by the University authority to assist young minds to hone their skills in a suitable workplace.

Aiding Healthcare

SO NEWS Desk — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:20:13 +0000

A few government schemes are indeed coming to rescue poor patients who are struggling with their health. These patients are assisted with the Golden Cards under Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission across the country. These beneficial programs are ready to avail by the eligible patients to relieve themselves of the huge costs of medical support. Now, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank initiates a program under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program offering 14.40 Lacs to Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences. The amount is donated to the hospital for the support of poor patients who cannot afford therapeutic sessions either for Cancer or severe blood dysfunctional diseases. The assistance is aimed to help patients make an easy recovery for these grave diseases. In the meanwhile, this program will prove to be beneficial for poor patients who often get disappointed to face the hospital bills. Medical care in the valley has not been an easy affair, however, the schemes offered biggest relaxations when it comes to accumulating bills for taking medical facilities at government-led institutions. The support from the Jammu and Kashmir Bank is an appreciative step that does not only promote healthcare but is also in line with social support to financially weaker sections of society. People are hopeful for other such aid from other organisations as well that can keep the goodwill going on.

Development in Disguise

SO NEWS Desk — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 15:37:48 +0000

Industrial revolution in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is a forthcoming advantage to boost the region with employment and technology. Though the designing of smart city – Srinagar involved advancement in the infrastructure as well as markets, the underpinning of the project is yet to come. For the time being, removal of encroachments has almost left the people of the valley in a shambles. Advancement must come along with the advantage of people. To report, projects worth 66,000 crore have been received by the JK administration in a year. 1455 industrial units have already started working in the valley. Development of the UT is aimed by maintaining the skillset and improving the lifestyle of the people. Entrepreneurship is based on the push of the Industrial Revolution in the region. Economic development is sanctioned by the government by assisting the industrial growth with 28,400 crore rupees. Enduring the financial stability, major enforcement of service and business units across the valley targets growth in business and development. Understanding business plans of young minds, encouraging them to hatch fresh ideas, and shaping them by assisting the youth financially has been the strongest point thus far. The encouragement must be extended to the business establishments that are at risk of losing their livelihood due to the removal of encroachments. Also, the threat of losing the shelter has become prevalent. Advancement now carries weight on the lives of people. Hence, a proper solution to the misplacement of properties in the region would entertain the desperate souls in distress.

Gender-Free Conviction

SO NEWS Desk — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 13:47:01 +0000

Crimes against other genders are growing with each passing day. It is not only women that don’t feel safer coming out of their homes because they are either molested or harassed by men, the transgender people living in the same society are not granted the luxury to go out and mingle with others. The environment in the schools is not framed to support kids who are deviated from the primary genders (men and women). Apart from the educational institutions, our workplaces also lack the extent of support for other genders. Places that are confined to dwell the restricted genders are the places that are not meant for different people to reside in. Therefore, the construction of society has a role to play in shaping the current and the upcoming generation. While providing rights to one gender, the other genders cannot be deprived of the same. The administration needs to put forth its effort in creating a justified environment for all genders to survive. There should be a commission that can track the requirements of transgender people and women. These genders are less safe and more vulnerable to attacks. The police can also stay alert all the time to sneak into the issues of injustice and crimes toward these genders. The initiative that was taken this year by the Jammu and Kashmir police to safeguard women throughout the valley should have been preserved in public places and workplaces alike. There is more that the administration can help with while safeguarding the rights of genders to avoid any kind of violence or discrimination against them.