A heavy hailstorm ripped through the paddy crops in Budgam, Pulwama and Kupwara as heavy rains destroyed the crop in Anantanag this evening.

Nomads may appear to be living an idyllic and carefree life. Far from that, they suffer serious deprivations. The absence of education for their children is a major problem. The Jammu and Kashmir Government has come up with the novel scheme of mobile schools, reports Ehsan Fazili from Srinagar

SKUAST-Jammu organized an awareness-cum-training programme on Vegetable /Seed production at Village Gajansoo, Block Marh in collaboration with Jammu and Kashmir Agri-Entrepreneur Development Association. The program was attended by 50 progressive vegetable growers from 16 different villages of Marh block.

UDHAMPUR, Sep 10: Rs.27.53 lakh Special Central Assistance (SCA) to Scheduled Caste Plan (SCP) for the year 2008-09 was approved at a meeting of District Officers of various departments held under the chairmanship of District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Ajay Khajuria, here today.

Out of the total allocation, 70 per cent amount would be utilized for setting up income generating units and the remaining 30 per cent for raising infrastructure, the meeting was apprised.

A mild earthquake that rocked the entire Kashmir valley early morning caused panic among the people. The earthquake was followed by heavy torrential rains during the day.

According to Director Metrological (DM) department Kashmir, Sonam Lotus, the magnitude of the quake was 5.5 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was stated to be Afghanistan and Pakistan border with a longitude of 36.1 degrees North and latitude 70.5 Degrees. The tremor occurred at 10.28 ISD.

Farmers in Kashmir valley are all set to reap a bumper rice crop this year, following timely rains and with no outbreak of disease this year.

The agriculture department is expecting a yield of 500,000 metric tones of paddy crop this year, compared to 495,000 metric tones achieved last year. Out of a total 160,000 hectare of land cultivated in Kashmir valley, the department has achieved a production of 495,000 metric tones of rice previous year.

Shrine Board Can Use Forestland During Yatra
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jammu/New Delhi: Jammu broke into wild celebrations on Sunday morning after an agreement between a government panel led by governor N N Vohra and a conglomerate of Hindu groups gave exclusive right to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) on forestland at Baltal for use during the pilgrimage season.

*800 kanals of land set aside for SASB during yatra period

Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (SAYSS) today suspended its more than two-month-long agitation over Amarnath land transfer row after it reached an agreement with the four-member panel appointed by Governor N N Vohra in the wee hours of this morning.

The continuing unrest over the Amarnath land transfer seems to have driven the Jammu and Kashmir administration to panic. On August 3 Jammu administration blacked out two local tv news channels and sealed the offices of two Hindi dailies for allegedly whipping up communal passions. Chief secretary S S Kapur said action was taken against the media houses which defied the official advisory.

LEH, Aug 26: State Medical Plants Board (SMPB) today organized one-day interactive-cum-training programme with the Amchies of Ladakh at Leh Circuit House to discuss various issues with relate to conservation and cultivation of endangered medicinal plants of Ladakh.

The team of the SMPB comprised Dr. Farooq Naqashbandi, Dr. Taran Singh and Dr. Zahoor Ahmad visited come to Ladakh with an aim to make the people of this region aware about conservation, cultivation and marketing potential of medicinal plants of Ladakh region.