SRINAGAR: The President of India on Thursday appointed Mohammad Yousuf Wani as Additional Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court for a period of two years.

“In exercise of the power conferred by Clause (1) of Article 224 of the Constitution of India, the President is pleased to appoint Shri Mohd. Yousuf Wani, to be an Additional Judge of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, for a period of two years with effect from the date he assumes the charge of his office,” Ministry Of Law And Justice, GoI, said in a notification, a copy of which lies with GNS. 

On March 12, the Supreme Court Collegium recommended the name of Mohammad Yousuf Wani, Judicial Officer, as Judge of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh.

Last year on September 21, the Chief Justice of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh in consultation with his two senior-most colleagues had recommended the appointment of Wani as an Additional Judge of the High Court. (GNS)

SRINAGAR: Ghulam Nabi Dar and Romalo Ram from Jammu and Kashmir have been conferred with coveted ‘Padma Shri’ award in ‘Arts Category’ and Togdan Rinpoche, Others –Spiritualism Ladakh, from Ladakh with ‘Padma Bhushan’ posthumously.

“Padma Awards - one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The Awards are given in various disciplines / fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc”,  reads a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, as per GNS.

“‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.”

These Awards, the notification reads, are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March / April every year. For the year 2024, the President has approved conferment of 132 Padma Awards including 2 duo cases (in a duo case, the Award is counted as one) as per list below. The list comprises 5 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan and 110 Padma Shri Awards. 30 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 8 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 9 Posthumous awardees.  

Among the ‘Padma Vibhushan’ recipients include; Vyjayantimala Bali, Arts, Tamil Nadu; Konidela Chiranjeevi, Art, Andhra Pradesh; M Venkaiah Naidu, Public Affairs, Andhra Pradesh; Bindeshwar Pathak (Posthumous), Social Work, Bihar and Padma Subrahmanyam, Art, Tamil Nadu.

Among Padma Bhushan recipients include; M Fathima Beevi (Posthumous), Public Affairs, Kerala; Hormusji N Cama, Literature & Education – Journalism, Maharashtra; Mithun Chakraborty, Art, West Bengal; Sitaram Jindal, Trade & Industry, Karnataka; Young Liu Trade & Industry Taiwan; Ashwin Balachand Mehta, Medicine, Maharashtra; Satyabrata Mookherjee (Posthumous), Public Affairs, West Bengal; Ram Naik, Public Affairs, Maharashtra; Tejas Madhusudan Patel Medicine Gujarat; Olanchery Rajagopal, Public Affairs, Kerala; Dattatray Ambadas Mayaloo alias Rajdutt, Art, Maharashtra; Pyarelal Sharma, Art, Maharashtra; Chandreshwar Prasad Thakur Medicine Bihar; Usha Uthup, Art, West Bengal, Vijaykanth (Posthumous), Art, Tamil Nadu; Kundan Vyas, Literature & Education – Journalism, Maharashtra.

The Padma Shri recipients, as per the notification, include; Khalil Ahamad, Art, Uttar Pradesh; Badrappan M, Art, Tamil Nadu; Kaluram Bamaniya, Art, Madhya Pradesh; Rezwana Choudhury Bannya Art  Bangladesh; Naseem Bano, Art, Uttar Pradesh, Ramlal Bareth, Art, Chhattisgarh; Gita Roy Barman, Art, West Bengal; Parbati Baruah, Social Work, Assam; Sarbeswar Basumatary, Others – Agriculture, Assam; Som Datt Battu, Art, Himachal Pradesh; Takdira Begum, Art, West Bengal; Sathyanarayana Beleri, Others – Agriculture, Kerala; Drona Bhuyan, Art, Assam; Ashok Kumar Biswas Art  Bihar, Rohan Machanda Bopanna, Sports, Karnataka, Smriti Rekha Chakma, Art, Tripura; Narayan Chakraborty, Science & Engineering, West Bengal; A Velu Ananda Chari, Art, Telangana; Ram Chet Chaudhary, Science & Engineering, Uttar Pradesh; K Chellammal, Others – Agriculture, Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Joshna Chinappa, Sports, Tamil Nadu; Charlotte Chopin, Others – Yoga, France; Raghuveer Choudhary, Literature & Education, Gujarat; Joe D Cruz, Literature & Education, Tamil Nadu; Chitta Ranjan Debbarma, Others – Spiritualism, Tripura; Uday Vishwanath Deshpande, Sports, Maharashtra; Prema Dhanraj, Medicine, Karnataka; Radha Krishan Dhiman, Medicine, Uttar Pradesh; Manohar Krishana Dole, Medicine, Maharashtra; Pierre Sylvain Filliozat, Literature & Education, France; Mahabir Singh Guddu, Art, Haryana; Anupama Hoskere, Art, Karnataka; Yazdi Maneksha Italia, Medicine, Gujarat; Rajaram Jain, Literature & Education, Uttar Pradesh; Jankilal, Art, Rajasthan; Ratan Kahar, Art, West Bengal, Yashwant Singh Kathoch, Literature & Education, Uttarakhand; Zahir I Kazi, Literature & Education, Maharashtra; Gaurav Khanna, Sports, Uttar Pradesh; Surendra Kishore, Literature & Education – Journalism, Bihar; Dasari Kondappa, Art, Telangana; Sridhar Makam Krishnamurthy, Literature & Education, Karnataka; Yanung Jamoh Lego, Others – Agriculture, Arunachal Pradesh; Jordan Lepcha, Art, Sikkim; Satendra Singh Lohia, Sports, Madhya Pradesh; Binod Maharana, Art, Odisha; Purnima Mahato, Sports, Jharkhand; Uma Maheshwari D, Art, Andhra Pradesh; Dukhu Majhi, Social Work, West Bengal; Ram Kumar Mallick, Art, Bihar; Hemchand Manjhi, Medicine, Chhattisgarh; Chandrashekhar Mahadeorao Meshram, Medicine, Maharashtra; Surendra Mohan Mishra (Posthumous), Art, Uttar Pradesh; Ali Mohammed & Ghani Mohammed* (Duo), Art, Rajasthan; Kalpana Morparia, Trade & Industry, Maharashtra; Chami Murmu, Social Work, Jharkhand; Sasindran Muthuvel, Public Affairs, Papua New Guinea; G Nachiyar, Medicine, Tamil Nadu; Kiran Nadar, Art, Delhi; Pakaravur Chithran Namboodiripad (Posthumous), Literature & Education, Kerala; Narayanan E P Art  Kerala; Shailesh Nayak, Science & Engineering, Delhi; Harish Nayak (Posthumous), Literature & Education, Gujarat; Fred Negrit Literature & Education France; Hari Om, Science & Engineering, Haryana; Bhagabat Padhan, Art, Odisha; Sanatan Rudra Pal, Art, West Bengal; Shankar Baba Pundlikrao Papalkar, Social Work, Maharashtra; Radhe Shyam Pareek, Medicine, Uttar Pradesh; Dayal Mavjibhai Parmar, Medicine, Gujarat; Binod Kumar Pasayat, Art, Odisha; Silbi Passah Art  Meghalaya; Shanti Devi Paswan & Shri Shivan Paswan* (Duo), Art, Bihar; Sanjay Anant Patil, Others – Agriculture, Goa; Muni Narayana Prasad, Literature & Education, Kerala; K S Rajanna, Social Work, Karnataka; Chandrashekar Channapatna Rajannachar, Medicine, Karnataka; Bhagwatilal Rajpurohit, Literature & Education, Madhya Pradesh; Navjivan Rastogi, Literature & Education, Uttar Pradesh; Nirmal Rishi, Art, Punjab; Pran Sabharwal, Art, Punjab; Gaddam Sammaiah, Art, Telangana; Sangthankima, Social Work, Mizoram; Machihan Sasa, Art, Manipur; Omprakash Sharma, Art, Madhya Pradesh; Eklabya Sharma, Science & Engineering, West Bengal; Ram Chander Sihag, Science & Engineering, Haryana; Harbinder Singh, Sports, Delhi; Gurvinder Singh, Social Work, Haryana; Godawari Singh Art  Uttar Pradesh; Ravi Prakash Singh, Science & Engineering, Mexico; Seshampatti T Sivalingam, Art, Tamil Nadu; Somanna, Social Work, Karnataka; Kethavath Somlal, Literature & Education, Telangana; Shashi Soni, Trade & Industry, Karnataka; Urmila Srivastava, Art, Uttar Pradesh; Nepal Chandra Sutradhar (Posthumous), Art, West Bengal; Gopinath Swain, Art, Odisha; Laxman Bhatt Tailang, Art, Rajasthan; Maya Tandon, Social Work, Rajasthan; Aswathi Thirunal Gouri; Lakshmi Bayi Thampuratty, Literature & Education, Kerala; Jagdish Labhshanker Trivedi, Art, Gujarat; Sano Vamuzo, Social Work, Nagaland; Balakrishnan Sadanam Puthiya Veetil, Art, Kerala; Kurella Vittalacharya, Literature & Education, Telangana; Kiran Vyas, Others – Yoga, France; Jageshwar Yadav, Social Work, Chhattisgarh and Babu Ram Yadav, Art, Uttar Pradesh. (GNS)

The alliance parties Congress and National Conference will have a direct contest with BJP for the 26 Council seats, and it is the first polls in Kargil after the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir State into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.

However, in some Council seats, NC and Congress had fielded candidates against each other, which they described as a “friendly contest.” In the last council, the NC had 10 members and the Congress had 8.

There are 85 candidates contesting the polls, with 22 representing the Congress, 17 from the NC, 17 from the BJP, four from the Aam Aadmi Party, and 24 Independent candidates.

The NC leaders linked the Hill Council poll result with the abrogation of Article 370, saying that the result would be an indication that voters in the region rejected decisions of August 5, 2019.

On the other hand, the BJP, which had three members in the last Council, during their campaign focused on the development in the region after the abrogation of Article 370.

The poll campaign ended on Monday evening.

According to election officials, there are over 95,000 voters, including 46,762 women, who are eligible to exercise their franchise on Wednesday. They said the voting would be conducted through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), which are being used for the first time in any council elections.

The officials said 278 polling stations have been set up across the Kargil district.

“EVMs and statutory material distribution for elections were dispatched to respective constituencies,” an official said on Tuesday.

Security has been beefed up across the district to ensure peaceful polls. The police, along with the central armed police force, have been conducting patrolling in various constituencies for smooth polls.

A senior police official of the union territory of Ladakh said there were no major security issues in Kargil.

The counting of votes is scheduled for October 8, and the new council will be in place before October 11.

The Hill Council in Kargil came into existence in July 2003. In the 30 Councilors team, 26 are elected from the respective constituencies, and the rest, four, are nominated from the principal minority and women folk. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: At least three people were killed while nine others were injured on Friday in an explosion inside a scrap dealer shop in Drass town of Kargil district of Ladakh, officials said.
They said 12 persons were injured in the blast in the shop in main market of Drass and out of them three died.

“9 injured were shifted to hospital for treatment and among which two are critical,” officials said.

Soon after the blast, senior police officers reached the spot and the shop where the blast took place was sealed. (UNI)

SRINAGAR: Political leader from Ladkah and Councilor Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Konchok Stanzin today questioned the presence of Chinese soldiers for two days in a buffer zone in Ladakh.

Quoting villagers, Konchok Stanzin as per the news agency Kashmir News Trust said that the Peoples Liberation Army of China vacated the buffer zone after staying there for two days which is a violation of the disengagement agreement.

Konchok Stanzin in a tweet said: “As per the villager source, PLA tented 4 tents just below Table Top Mountain two days back and vacated today. This area falls under the buffer zone. Then how did those tents come up? It's a complete violation of the disengagement agre

SRINAGAR: Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Monday notified for exemption of wearing of gown (a long loose piece of clothing that is worn over clothes) for practicing advocates at Jammu Wing with immediate effect upto September ending.

“It is hereby notified for the information of all concerned that wearing of ‘Gown’ by the Advocates practicing in the Jammu Wing of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh is exempted with immediate effect till end of September, 2023”, reads a notification, a copy of which lies with GNS.

The move has supposedly come amid a surge in day-time temperatures in the winter capital of Union Territory of J&K. (GNS)

SRINAGAR: As many as 185 people from outside Jammu and Kashmir have bought land J&K in the last three years, Ministry of Home, Government of India, informed parliament on Wednesday.

Minister of State for MHA Nityanand Rai, however, said, no land has been bought by outsiders nor any Indian company has made investment in Ladakh.

 “As per the information provided by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, a total of 185 people from outside the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have bought land in the UT during 2020, 2021 and 2022,” he said replying to a written question by Ram Nath Thakur, a politician from Janata Dal party from Bihar, in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament.

Rai said that while one person bought land in 2020, 57 bought in 2021 and 127 in 2022.

As per the information provided by the government of Jammu and Kashmir, Rai further said, a total of 1,559 Indian companies, including multinational companies, have made investments in the J&K.

In 2020-21, he said as per the reply, as copy of which lies with GNS, 310 entities invested in J&K, 175 in 2021-22 and 1074 in 2022-23.

“Further, as per the information provided by the Union Territory of Ladakh, no Indian companies, including multinational companies, have invested in the UT during the last three years,” he added. (GNS)