In Jammu and Kashmir, ‘the teaching staff in government-run-schools have dropped by over 4800 in the past three years.’ According to the official figures available, Jammu and Kashmir has recorded a reduction of 4811 teaching staff since the academic year 2023-24 to 2025-26. The figures reveal that in the academic year 2023-24, Jammu and Kashmir had a total of 96,370 teachers in government-run-schools that reduced to 94,202 in the academic year 2024-25. Furthermore, the figures tabled by the Government of India (GoI) in the Lok Sabha states that in the academic year 2025-26 Jammu and Kashmir had only 91,569 teachers…
Author: KNO
Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed at least 35 cloudburst incidents this year so far, claiming around 31 lives and causing widespread destruction to homes, roads, bridges and public infrastructure. Official data accessed, shows that at least 22 cloudbursts were reported between June 1 and mid-July, while persistent heavy rainfall during the second half of July and the beginning of August triggered several more incidents, pushing the total number of reported cloudbursts beyond 35. The fatalities have largely resulted from cloudbursts, flash floods and rain-triggered landslides, with the Jammu division accounting for the highest number of deaths. The worst-hit districts include…
Hundreds of fruit-laden trucks remained stranded at several locations along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway following the suspension of traffic for restoration works, with drivers urging the authorities to reopen the road at the earliest to prevent losses to growers and transporters. The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country, remained closed on Friday to facilitate restoration and slope stabilisation works on vulnerable stretches, leaving hundreds of goods vehicles stranded at different locations on both sides of the highway. The stranded drivers said that most of the vehicles were carrying fresh apples and…
Jammu and Kashmir recorded a decline in cyber crime cases in 2024 compared to the previous two years, while Ladakh reported only one such case during the year, the Ministry of Home Affairs informed the Lok Sabha. Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar informed that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) maintains data on cyber crimes, while States and Union Territories are primarily responsible for preventing, investigating and prosecuting such offences. The Centre supports them through financial assistance, advisories and capacity-building initiatives. According to the official data, Jammu and Kashmir registered 173 cyber crime cases in 2022,…
Police have arrested two men for allegedly gang raping a 21year old woman, recording the assault on a mobile phone and threatening her into silence in Baramulla district. Addressing a press conference here in North Kashmir, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Baramulla Gurinderpal Singh, said the woman approached Police Station Baramulla on July 25 and lodged a written complaint alleging that the incident had taken place on July 3 at Jalsheeri Drangbal. According to the complaint, the woman had gone to Jalsheeri Drangbal with a male friend for an outing when two unknown men allegedly approached them, harassed them and…
Nearly 12 years after the devastating 2014 floods exposed the vulnerability of Kashmir’s flood management system, experts have raised concerns over the declining carrying capacity of the Valley’s rivers, streams, and wetlands, warning that rampant encroachments, indiscriminate garbage dumping, and unchecked urbanisation are undoing much of the progress made under the flood mitigation programme. Environmental experts and officials said that instead of improving, the carrying capacity of almost every major water body in Kashmir is steadily decreasing, making the region increasingly vulnerable to flooding during heavy rainfall. The problem is not confined to the River Jhelum alone but extends to…
Security forces have picked up over 1,000 Over Ground Workers (OGWs) from across the Kashmir Valley after a cop was killed in a ‘terror’ attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, officials said. A top official said that following the attack security forces along with Jammu and Kashmir police launched Valley-wide raids. He said during the raids over 1,000 OGWs have been picked up even as search operations have been intensified at several places, including Anantnag district. Head Constable Ashiq Hussain, deployed for Amarnath Yatra security duty, was shot dead by a terrorist in Anantnag’s Lal Chowk around 12.30 pm today.…
A police constable was killed after gunshots were heard in the Lal Chowk area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday, officials said. An official said that the cop was injured in the firing incident was taken to a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, hospital authorities confimed he was brought dead. The deceased has been identified as Ashiq Hussain. The exact circumstances surrounding the firing incident were not immediately known. Police have taken up the investigation, while entire area has been cordoned off with more reinforcements rushed to the spot.
Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the statehood protest in Delhi was just a beginning and not the end and that the party will continue reminding the Centre of its commitments and will not compromise on its political agenda to appease the BJP. Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, a day after the statehood protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, CM Omar, said the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly had passed a resolution seeking restoration of autonomy, but the move was deliberately misrepresented. “When the Assembly passed the autonomy resolution, it was falsely portrayed…
by Sajid Raina Every morning before sunrise, dozens of women from villages surrounding Kashmir’s Wular Lake push their wooden boats into the sprawling freshwater body to harvest green water chestnuts, a seasonal occupation that has sustained their families for generations. But this year, they say, the work has become harder, the harvest smaller and the lake itself increasingly hostile. Standing for hours in waist-deep water, many women now wear gloves and face masks to protect themselves from what they describe as foul-smelling, polluted water that leaves their hands itching and causes skin rashes after prolonged exposure. “In earlier years, one…