The valley is located in the high Himalayas, about 123 kilometres from Srinagar. At about 2,400 metres (8,000 ft) above sea level, the valley is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It has diverse fauna and wildlife and the Kishanganga River flows through the valley.

DC Bandipora

Since the area is located along the LoC, Gurez is separated from the Astore, one of the districts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Neelum districts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The people in this region speak the Shina language and have the same styles of dress and culture as their kinsmen in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan.

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Revived after more than seven decades

According to locals, the last match of horse polo was played before 1947 in the Gurez sector.

“This game travelled to Gurez more than seven decades before through central Asia’s Silk Route. Since our ethnicity is from Gilgit-Baltistan, this game was also played here. People from Gilgit would also come to play polo here too,” Suhail Shaheen Lone, a local social activist from Gurez told Indiatimes.

He said most of the people would go to Gilgit-Baltistan to play the game then. “This was because the game belongs to that region and large grounds were available there for polo matches,” he said.

DC Bandipora

Lone said that even the Mughal rulers used to play the game in Gurez then. “But nobody knows how and why this game disappeared from the grounds of Gurez abruptly,” he said.

Ibrahim Pintoo, an advocate from Gurez said that this was the game of pre-Independence only.

“We have horse polo grounds but they are totally useless. Also, the new generation never took this game seriously otherwise we could have revived it,” he said.

Govt makes effort

On September 3, to celebrate the recently awarded best off-beat tourist destination of India and to enhance and promote tourism to the virgin valley, a grand Gurez festival was organised here by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with District Administration Bandipora and J&K Academy of Art Culture & Languages (JKAACL).

The major attraction of the day-long festival was a polo match which was played by the Himalayan polo club. The players were called from Dras.

J&K Tourism

Another special feature of the festival was holding of many adventure and water sports activities like rafting, kayaking, cycling, mountain biking, trekking besides a spectacular show of All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) for the first time in Gurez.

Performances by artists from JK Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in many dying and shrinking dialects like Sheena, Dardi, Pahari besides other local languages was an eye-catcher for the locals and tourists equally.

Will promote horse polo

Speaking on the occasion, Director Tourism, Dr G N Itoo said that the Tourism Department has been promoting Gurez through a sustained and coordinated mechanism for the last two years which yielded results recently in the destination being awarded as the best offbeat tourist spot in the country by a national publication.

He hailed the support and coordination by the district administration and local population in making this happen. He urged the youth to participate in promotion of tourism and local culture of Gurez.

J&K Tourism

A spokesperson of Tourism Department Kashmir said that they were happy to organize the horse polo in Gurez after so many decades.

“We would now work to promote this game more and more in Kashmir in future,” he said.

In 2019, Deputy Commissioner Bandipora Shahbaz Ahmad Mirza had asked the officers of the Youth Services and Sports to explore possibilities for reviving horse polo in Gurez valley.

“The horse polo is an age-old game of Central Asia that travelled to Ladakh, Gilgit and Gurez areas through the Silk Route and there is a need to revive the game in Gurez valley by organising tourneys,” he had said.

Beautiful experience

Mehraj Ud Din, a polo horse player from Drass region of Ladakh said that it was an amazing experience to play for the first time in Gurez.

“We had earlier heard that polo used to be played in Gurez many decades back but finally we played in there,” said Mehraj who has played various nationals representing Ladakh.

J&K Tourism

Dras is the only place in Ladakh and bordering J&K region where polo horse is being played.

However, locals of Gurez said that the government should work to create its own local team here so as to boost tourism and revive this important game in the mountains of the valley.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.              

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Having named his brand as ‘Epic Touch by Aasif Mehraj’, he said that he has set up a small store full of Turkey clothes in Bangalore city.

Idrees Bukhtiyar/ Indiatimes

Aasif who left the valley during his younger age told Indiatimes that the aim of starting this venture was to introduce the culture of Turkey to India through clothes.

“For some time, I have started importing clothes to India from Turkey and the idea behind it is to show the culture and tradition of Turkey,” he said.

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Friend gave this idea

When asked how all this started, he said, “In 2016, he came across a friend from Turkey who was totally in love with Kashmiri culture and tradition. He gave me this idea to import Turkish clothes in India as people love these clothes.”

Unsplash

He said the importing of clothes from Turkey can also help in building strong relations between both the countries.

Aasif, a resident of Srinagar city said that he has made Turkey clothing easily available to Indians.

“Otherwise, they would have to travel to Turkey itself or book online which could take a long time but we have made everything available at our store. In fact, people from across India visit our shop to purchase clothes. We get a positive response from our customers,” he said.

Shoots for big brands

Aasif who has been into modelling for a long time said that he has done various shoots for big brands in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and others.

“In past, I have done the shoots for the brands like Myntra, Flipkart, Amazon, Max and others,” he told Indiatimes.

Idrees Bukhtiyar/ Indiatimes

Aasif was the winner of the 2016 elite mega model contest which was held in Delhi and has walked for Mehrab the designer as a runway model in Delhi.

The young entrepreneur has settled in Bangalore for the last many years and said that the city has given a lot of love.

“I have also built good connections in terms of my work here in the city who are promoting my work,” said Aasif who has studied MBA from University of Mysore.

Aasif said that working as a model helped him to set up his brand easily.

“Since I have been dealing with clothes since the beginning, it helped me quickly to get established in my work,” he said.

Introducing shawls too

To build good relations with other countries too, he introduced the pashmina shawl to Yemen and Oman.

“I was told that there is huge demand for Kashmiri pashmina shawl and that’s how I came across the idea. The kings of Oman are fond of Kashmiri shawl and they prefer to use our one,” he said.

Unsplash

Aasif has a big dream to introduce Turkish clothes for his own people in Kashmir.

“This is my dream and I hope we will be able to set up a proper store in Srinagar in the next few months where people can easily purchase their favourite Turkey clothes,” he said.

He added that this will also create employment for the local Kashmiri youth.    

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.    

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BCCL

The app was launched in March 2021 by
Project Director Samagra Shiksha J&K. The app aims to enumerate and keep
track of Out of School Children (OOSC) in a timely and quality manner, through
intensive data analysis and monitoring.

“Under the ‘Aao
School Chalein Campaign’, the UT administration has enrolled 1.65 lakh children
in the last one year. The ‘Talaash’ app is being used to identify those who had
to drop out of schools due to some reasons in the past few years,” said J&K
Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha.

##JUMPLINK##

86,000 children
identified

“Till now,
86,000 such boys and girls have been identified, and they are being enrolled,
the LG said.

Student
enrolment in government schools in Jammu and Kashmir was steadily declining
before 2019, but in the last two years it has increased by 14.5 per cent, the
LG said.

BCCL

“Sustained
efforts were being made for early childhood care and education as recommended
by the national education policy, he further said.

“In the three
years before 2019, there was a continuous decrease in enrolment in government
schools. However, in the last two years, enrolment has increased by 14.5 per
cent,” the LG said, while addressing the annual day function at the Devki Arya
Putri Pathshala on Saturday.

He said several
interventions were made in the education sector of the Union territory in the
last two years, and efforts were being made to provide quality education to
children.

Kindergartens
to be established

Despite
constraints, 1.24 lakh children were enrolled for early child care education,
and it has been decided that this year, 2,000 kindergartens will be
established, he said.

“This year, we have decided that 14,000 girls will be
provided NEET coaching, the expenditure of which will be borne by the
administration,” Sinha said.

BCCL

Jammu &
Kashmir had an estimated 27500 out-of-school children (OoSC) comprising two
categories- Never enrolled and Dropouts.

There are
various provisions regarding mainstreaming of OoSC in the Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, MoE guidelines on Special
Training and MHRD Clarification on Provisions of RTE Act, 2009.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.            

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Unsplash

In a heart-warming gesture, Novartis, the
Switzerland-based pharmaceutical firm has come to the rescue of 23-month-old
baby in Hyderabad.  

The baby is suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy-1 (SMA-1), a rare genetic disorder.

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‘Zolgensma Gene Therapy’

She was administered Zolgensma Gene
Therapy, the only treatment available, in the form of an injection that costs
Rs 16 crore, at the Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday.

The Switzerland-based pharmaceutical firm has supplied the drug-free of cost for Ellen.

Unsplash

She is the daughter of Rayapudi Praveen
and Stella, residents of Reguballi village in Bhadradri Kothagudem district.

Breathing difficulty, muscle weakness

Dr Ramesh Konanki, the consultant pediatric neurologist told The New Indian Express that children
affected by SMA-1 are unable to attain growth milestones.

“Ellen couldn’t control her voluntary
movements, especially motion in the head, neck, hands, and legs, and was unable
to swallow,” he said.

Unsplash

She also developed breathing difficulty and severe muscle weakness due to which she couldn’t even sit or hold her neck.

“SMA can be life-threatening, if not
treated before the child attains two years of age. Until 2019, there was no
treatment. However, Novartis developed a treatment that works by replacing the
defective gene,” Dr Ramesh said.

This was the fourth case of the drug being
administered at the hospital.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.      

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Representational Image/ Unsplash

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) last month retrieved the possession of Valmiki Mandir (temple) situated near the famous Anarkali Bazaar Lahore from a Christian family.

Restored according
to ‘master plan’

ETPB
spokesperson Amir Hashmi told PTI that Valmiki temple will be restored in
accordance with a ‘master plan’ in the coming days.

Representational Image/ Unsplash

“Over 100
Hindus, some Sikh and Christian leaders today gathered at the Valmiki Temple.
Hindus performed their religious rituals and had lungar (food) for the first
time it was retrieved from the grabbers,” he said.Besides Krishna
Temple, Valmiki Temple is the only functional temple in Lahore.

The Christian family, which claims to have converted to Hinduism, had been facilitating only the Valmiki caste Hindus for worship at the temple for the last two decades.

ETPB’s land

An ETPB
official said the temple’s land was transferred to the ETPB in the revenue
record, but the family in 2010-2011 claimed to be the owner of the property. Later
they filed a case in the civil court, Dawn Newspaper reported.

Representational Image Image/ Unsplash

He said besides
going into litigation, the family also made the temple only for the Valmiki
Hindus. This left the trust with no option but to fight the case in court.

“This time, the court also reprimanded the petitioner for false claims,” the official added.

Temple suffered
damage in past

In 1992, in the
aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in India, an angry mob wielding
weapons stormed into the Valmiki Temple. It smashed the idols of Krishna and
Valmiki, broke utensils and crockery in the kitchen and seized the gold with
which the statues were embellished.

The temple was
demolished to rubble and the building was set on fire. The shops in the
neighbourhood also caught fire and it took days for the authorities to
extinguish the flames.

Representational Image/ Unsplash

 The ETPB spokesman
told Dawn newspaper that a one-man commission constituted by the Supreme Court
of Pakistan presented its recommendations to the government, stating that the
temple must be renovated to provide better workshop facilities to the Hindu
community.

But the ETPB, in the
wake of the litigation, was unable to start restoration work at the temple
constructed on over 10 marla land worth millions in the heart of the city, the
spokesperson said.

The ETPB looks after the temples and land left over by Sikhs
and Hindus who migrated to India after the Partition. It oversees 200 gurdwaras
and 150 temples across Pakistan.

For more on the news,
sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.      

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Instagram

What is more interesting is that he found a mention in Prime Minister’s recent Mann ki Baat episode.

The PM in the episode said that how Singh’s
venture was promoting apiculture as a means of livelihood and also empowering
bee farmers by engaging them in his company.

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It was father’s advice

Singh said that he took up bee keeping on the advice of his father after roaming around all over India to study farming methods.

“In 2013, I set up Madhumakhiwala in Lucknow
to manufacture organic honey. However, the path was bumpy in the beginning. I could
not sell much honey in the first two years and decided to separate the
manufacturing and marketing aspects of the business,” he told News 18.

Instagram

“Later I engaged bee farmers from various
states in our venture. We provided them the bee boxes and everything else
required to manufacture honey. After that, the honey is brought to our factory
in Barabanki to be filtered and packaged,” said Singh who hails from Uttar
Pradesh’s Gorakhpur district.

500 bee framers on job

Singh has given employment to many bee
farmers through his venture. 

“500 bee farmers from different states collaborate with us to produce the best-quality honey,” he said.

Instagram

He said that to bring out the good quality
of honey they made a rule that the farmer has to sell a portion of his produce himself.

“For example, if a farmer produces 100
jars of honey, he has to sell 20 of them. This ensures that he makes
top-quality honey as he has to sell it himself,” said the entrepreneur.

Singh’s came into limelight at a time when
the Centre has approved a new scheme titled “National Beekeeping & Honey
Mission (NBHM)” for 2 years for overall promotion and development of scientific
beekeeping. The aim is to achieve ‘Sweet Revolution’ in the country by giving
thrust to capacity building and trainings in the field of apiculture.

Women engaged too

The entrepreneur’s biggest achievement
came when he collaborated with the district administration and NGOs, engaged
families in Chainpurwa village in making beewax earthen lamps. Earlier, the
primary source of livelihood for these villagers was brewing illicit liquor.
Many families were adversely affected by the business.

A good number of women and young adults
made bee wax diyas.

Instagram

Youths from these families were trained in
marketing the products. During their first Diwali, they sold around 12 lakh
beewax diyas in Lucknow

In the past nine years of existence, the
company has bagged several awards. It received the State Award by Government of
Uttar Pradesh and also the District Award for Beekeeping.

For more on the news,
sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.      

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Swati Birla who teaches at a government school in the region has now earned a special name from the children as ‘Cake-wali-teacher’.

The Statesman

Swati takes out her scooty
through the paved roads and reaches the small tenements where these children
live come what may. She collects kids and celebrates birthdays of village
children by cutting birthday cakes.

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Send kids to school

She spends time with her
little companions and, in return, wants the kids’ parents to make a promise
that they will send their children to school. Most such children are completely
unknown to Swati.

Swati said that three years back she taught
children in a government primary school in Jhadoli village, about 20 km from
her village Kannauj.

Representational Image

“I noticed many
children belonging to the Bhil tribal community in Bhilgatti and Dhanis sitting
idle. They would often fight among themselves. On enquiry, she found that they
did not go to school though some of them did enroll. Their parents made them
work in the fields or take care of their younger siblings,” she told The New
Indian Express.

Using cake to
bring change

Swati said she decided
to do something. “I was fond of making cakes and decided to use that skill to
interact with and guide those children. I took a small step and started
celebrating children’s birthdays by baking cakes for them in my school,” she
said.

Her husband, Tarun Kabra runs a grocery shop and she takes all cake-making material and stationery items from there.

Representational Image

For each child’s birthday, she prepares food for about 20 children in the village. The theme of the cake she makes is education.

She draws a pencil on the cake and uses a ruler,
not a knife, to cut it.

Gives stationery too

She also gives them stationery so that a kid feels
the need to study and go to school every day.

“Children feel very happy after cutting the cake
and their parents get emotional on these occasions. I also tell the children
that the size of the cake will be the largest for the child who has the maximum
attendance in school,” said Swati.

The New Indian Express

“I make them promise that if they go to school
regularly, they will get a chance to celebrate their birthdays in a grand
style,” she said.

Swati has celebrated the birthday of over 250
children by now. 

“I get a lot of happiness as these special
celebrations help me to live moments that I did not experience in my
childhood,” she added.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.

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It stated that similar relief will be extended to over 100 migrant workers against whom cases had been filed with Delhi Police. The police have been directed to file closure reports in 10 such
cases registered against them, The Hindu reported.

Deccan Chronicle

The LG’s orders have been issued under section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

In the orders, he has asked the Delhi
Police to file closure reports in 10 cases where charge sheets are yet to be
filed in 7 cases, and the accused migrants are yet to be traced in 3 cases.

Reuters

Around 43 such cases under Section 51 of
the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and other offences were filed against migrant
labourers during the lockdown for allegedly violating measures such as moving
on the roads while returning to their rural hometowns during the migrant
exodus.

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‘Humane and reasoned view’

According to a senior Raj Niwas official,
Mr Saxena had issued instructions to this effect, taking the “humane and reasoned view” that these violations were “essentially petty in nature” committed by “poor migrants in a situation of extreme distress” caused by the
pandemic-induced lockdowns.

BBC

“The LG has said that this decision will
save the accused from unnecessary harassment and running around,” the official told
The Hindu.

Supreme Court order

“This decision is in line with the Supreme
Court of India’s Judgment on June 9 keeping in mind the hapless and helpless
condition of the migrants in the National Capital, many of whom had lost their
livelihoods and could not afford their rents and existential needs during the
pandemic,” the official added.

East Asia Forum

According to Raj Niwas, 18 of 43 cases had
already been disposed of or decided upon by courts while in 15 cases where
chargesheets had been filed in courts, the LG has ordered the withdrawal of
prosecution by the Directorate of Prosecution.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.

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The woman, whose name has not been disclosed, gave birth to a baby boy
on April 25 and who is of two months now has reportedly sold him off just five
days later to a local couple looking to become parents.

Representational Image/ istock

According to Daily Star, the woman was taken into custody in late
May on suspicion of human trafficking. Russian officials revealed that she gave birth at a hospital in the southern city of Kaspiysk.

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Handed-over with the help of locals

However, later, she met with a local resident and agreed to hand over
her newborn son for a reward of 200,000 rubles ($3,200).

Reportedly, on the day she handed over the baby and in return, she was paid a small amount of $360.

Representational Image/ istock

Weeks later, on May 26, the woman reportedly received the rest of the
money, however, the police were tipped off a short time later. The Russian
mother was then taken into custody, along with the pair who illegally adopted
the newborn boy.

Newborn sold to new parents

The new parents told the police that the 33-year-old woman gave them the
baby and his birth certificate. The couple denied paying directly for the baby.
They reportedly revealed that the mother had only asked for $3,200 for the cost
of a nose job for “better breathing”, which they were happy to oblige.

Social Media

As per Daily Star, the Investigative Committee of the Russian
Federation for the Republic of Dagestan, in a statement, said that the
33-year-old woman “is suspected of committing a crime under paragraph ‘h’ of
Part 2 of Art. 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (purchase
and sale committed in relation to a person who is in a state of helplessness,
known to the guilty person).”

The statement continued, “The suspect was detained in accordance with
Art. 91 and 92 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation.”

More investigation on

The officials also informed that a series of investigative actions are being carried out currently aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime committed and consolidating evidence of the suspect’s guilt.

istock

However, they did not disclose who is currently caring for the newborn
baby boy.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.

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Mint

In an unimaginable service offered by the
Indian Railways, the student was given a car ride from Ekta Nagar railway station to Vadodara station, over a two-hour drive, in the wake of the cancellation.

Booked ticket from Ekta Nagar to Vadodara

Reports said Satyam Gadhvi had booked a train ticket to travel from Ekta Nagar to Vadodara, from where he would travel to his final destination – Chennai.

iStock

However, due to heavy rains, some portions of the railway tracks connecting Ekta Nagar to Vadodara were washed out, which led to the cancellation of the train.

Hired car exclusively for him

Following cancellation, the railway officials
hired a car exclusively for the student to take him to Vadodara so that he
could catch the train.

“The train that I booked was supposed to
depart from Ekta Nagar but as the tracks were washed out because of the rains,
the train was cancelled at the last moment.

The Financial Express

But because of the very supportive
staff of Ekta Nagar, they hired a car for me. This shows how much importance
they are giving to each and every passenger of railways,” Gadhvi said.

पश्चिम रेलवे के चाँदोद – एकता नगर रेल खंड के क्षतिग्रस्त होने के कारण रेल यातायात बंद होने से 20920 एकतानगर- एमजीआर चेन्नई सेंट्रल के एकता नगर – वडोदरा के बीच निरस्त होने के कारण इस ट्रेन के एकतानगर से एकमात्र यात्री को कार से वडोदरा पहुँचाया गया @WesternRly @RailMinIndia pic.twitter.com/6kzLaxCYwu

— DRM Vadodara (@DRMBRCWR) July 13, 2022

Offers in past too

In 2018, Indian Railways issued offers for free travel for many passengers. Under the offer, passengers were given concessions too.

The Economic Times

In 2019, Indian Railways offer concessions
on ticket prices to different categories, the quantum of which ranges from 10
per cent to 100 per cent. The reductions in fares are available for senior
citizens, disabled passengers, students, war widows, and patients, among others.
IRCTC (Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation), the online ticketing
platform of Indian Railways, offers concession on senior citizen tickets only.
Other concession tickets can be availed at the Passenger Reservation System
(PRS) counters at any railway reservation office, according to Indian Railways’
website- indianrail.gov.in.

In the same year, it also offered insurance of less than Rs 50 paise per train passenger.

For more on news and current affairs from around the world please visit Indiatimes News.

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