Srinagar/Jammu: Declaring the Jammu and Kashmir floods as "national-level disaster", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced Rs 1,000 crore as special assistance for rehabilitation while sharing the pain and anguish of the people of the state.

He made the annoucement in Srinagar after undertaking a visit to the state for first-hand information of the situation which has turned grim resulting in the death of over 130 persons.

The Prime Minister also called upon other states to also pitch in with relief assistance in whatever way they could.

Expressing his anguish at the loss that has been caused in neighbouring areas in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK), he said India was ready to provide humanitarian assistance to the affected areas if Pakistan requires it.

"In this hour of distress, the Prime Minister offered all possible assistance to the people of the region and said the Government of India is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to those areas if the Pakistan government needs it," he said.

"The Prime Minister shared the pain and anguish of the people as he was briefed in Jammu and in Srinagar by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and senior officials of the state government about the damage caused by the floods," a PMO statement said.

The Prime Minister observed that the Rs 1,100 crores, which is being made available to the state government through the state Disaster Relief Fund, would not prove to be adequate in view of the magnitude of the tragedy.

"An additional special project assistance of Rs 1,000 crore will be made available by the government to the state for flood relief and rehabilitation. More assistance would be provided, if required, after a proper survey of the situation has been made," he said.

Terming it as a national-level disaster, Modi said the Centre stands shoulder to shoulder with the state government and the people of the state in this hour of crisis.

The Prime Minister said Rs 2 lakh will be provided to the next of kin of each person whose life has been lost in this calamity and Rs 50,000 would be provided to each person who is grievously injured and will be provided from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.

Modi said in order to meet the immediate need of providing shelter to those who have lost their homes, the Centre will provide 5,000 tents from the Armed Forces and the Central Paramilitary Forces.

"These will be moved from Monday onwards to various locations in the state. Rs 5 crore will be provided from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund to purchase one lakh blankets to the needy in this cold weather," he said.

He maintained that in order to supplement food supply to children, the Centre will airlift 50 tons of milk powder. One consignment of essential medicines is being airlifted today evening to meet emergency needs. More will be supplied subsequently as required, he said.

He added teams of the Telecom Department have been directed to restore telecommunication links in the fastest possible manner to the affected areas.

"Army engineers are working to repair damaged bridges.

Boats have been requisitioned from Gujarat and Maharashtra," Modi said.

He said 2,000 solar lamps will be provided to help those where power supply has been lost.

Modi said was briefed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the extent of damage caused by the floods and the suffering that the people were undergoing.

In view of the seriousness of the situation, the Prime Minister had held a crisis review meeting with the Cabinet Secretary and other senior officials.

The Prime Minister said planes bringing relief material to the state would airlift stranded tourists on their way back.

He appreciated the rescue and relief work being done by the Armed Forces and NDRF personnel working in close coordination.

Earlier, the Prime Minister who flew into Jammu, reviewed the flood situation at a high-level meeting attended by J&K Chief Minister and top officials.

The Chief Minister briefed him on the devastation caused by the floods. The Prime Minister undertook an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Jammu zone.

Torrential rains have triggered flooding, landslides and house collapses leaving behind a trail of death and destruction.

The Prime Minister saw several buildings and homes partially submerged with swirling water gushing around.

People, carrying some of their belongings, were seen trudging in waist-high water to safer locations. Many vehicles were found stranded.

In some places, people were atop buses to reach safer destinations.

During the meeting with the Prime Minister, Omar sought more rescue-related initiatives, including commencement of air rescue operations in view of the grim situation in the state, officials said.

The Prime Minister was accompanied by Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh and Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag.

Modi was earlier received at the airport by Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra and the Chief Minister.

The state is facing the worst floods in the last 50 years. Over 11,000 people have been rescued so far by the security forces. — PTI

SRINAGAR: The flood situation in Kashmir worsened on Sunday as many parts of Srinagar, including the Army cantonment in Badamibagh, were inundated and vital roads submerged.

The embankments of River Jhelum were breached at many places due to rise in water level, submerging areas like Badamibagh, Sonawar, Rajbagh, Kursu, Natipora, Nowgam and old Barzulla, officials said.

Water has also seeped into important installations like Civil Secretariat and High Court in the heart of the city, the official said.

They said vital roads including the airport road, Exhibition Crossing, Hari Singh High Street, Lal Chowk and Regal Chowk have also been submerged under several feet of water.

Access to main hospitals like SMHS and Lalla Ded has been cut off due to the flooding of the roads.

Thousands of people from water-logged areas have been moved to safer places but many people have been trapped in upper stories of their homes in low-lying areas of the city, the officials said.

Communication system has been disrupted with all almost all private cellular networks out of order. The landline telephone network has also been badly affected.

"We are not able to get information from areas which have been cut off by flood water. Exact extent of deaths and destruction over the past 24 hours is not known," an official in the Police Control Room said.

Electricity and water supply has remained disrupted in affected areas for the past six days now.

Torrential monsoon rains, which triggered flooding, landslides and house collapses in Jammu and Kashmir, have so far claimed 116 lives in the state. A senior official said that additional teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 100 boats have been rushed to Kashmir for launching rescue operations in the Valley.

"We are facing shortage of boats for rescuing people from inundated areas. A lot of 100 boats is being airlifted from Delhi which shall be landing here any moment," Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Rohit Kansal told PTI.

Kansal said many people were trapped in several localities which have been inundated due to breach in banks of River Jhelum at some places.

"Due to shortage of boats we have not been able to reach these areas yet," he said.
He said additional teams of NDRF are flying into the Valley to carry out rescue operations. -PTI 

SRINAGAR: Army on Sunday resumed searches for two soldiers, who went missing after their boat capsized during a rescue and relief operation in flood-affected Pulwama district of Kashmir.

"The search operation was resumed this morning for the two missing jawans but so far we have not been able to trace them," an Army spokesman said.

Nine Army personnel, including an officer, were trapped in strong water current at Kakapora in Pulwama district yesterday when their boat capsized during a rescue operation.

While seven personnel were rescued late in the afternoon yesterday, two personnel went missing.

The spokesman said initially the searches this morning were focused around the area where the boat capsized.

"Now we have widened the area of search. The personnel have life jackets on and we hope that these would have kept them alive," he added. — PTI

Mathematical model coming up to forewarn of floods, landslides

NEW DELHI: A year after the devastating deluge in Uttarakhand, Central Water Commission (CWC) is developing mathematical models to "quickly" assess the extent of damage landslides may cause in the Himalayan states of the country.

These models would come in handy to forewarn residents of localities which fall in the vicinity of the trouble zone about the impending danger, besides alerting authorities to take necessary steps to protect lives and property.

Also, it would help in a big way to allay fears triggered by landslides, top officials of Ministry of Water Resources told PTI.

"Take the case of recent floods in the Kosi River and landslides. Reports were rife that there would be serious implications. But, when we analysed it using mathematical model, we found that the intensity of the river would reduce gradually, though flood waves were high in the upper regions," an official observed.

Mathematical models are abstract models, which use mathematical language to describe the behaviour of a particular system.

With maps and pictures, experts design the model to analyse the pressure of flood waves. This would give a clear picture on the pressure of flood waves, behaviour of the river and whether landslides would be detrimental.

In certain cases, pictures could be clicked from the spot for this purpose.

According to sources, the mathematical models would be developed for river basins of Himalayas falling in states, including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttarakhand.

"It works in two ways. If there is an imminent threat, information would reach people and authorities to swing into action. Otherwise, it can help prevent panic," an official said.

Hundreds perished in the unprecedented flash floods caused by cloudburst in Uttarakhand in 2013. This led to massive landslides in the Himalayan state, cutting off several villages on the slopes from the rest of India for a few days. — PTI

NEW DELHI: The government has decided to go ahead with the appointments to various statutory bodies like CVC, NHRC and Lokpal without the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha as a member of the Selection Committee choosing them.

The move comes following a recent reference from the Lok Sabha Secretariat in this regard, official sources said.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had written to the Lok Sabha seeking information on the LoP. The secretariat has informed the DoPT that there is no recognised LoP in the Lok Sabha, they said.

The government will go ahead with the appointments to various statutory bodies without the LoP, the sources said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had rejected Congress' demand for LoP status for its nominee.

Congress with 44 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha has emerged as the second largest party after BJP's 282 but fell short by 11 to stake claim for the LoP, for which it requires a strength of 55.

There is no mandatory requirement of the LoP in the Selection Committee that recommends persons for Central Vigilance Commissioner, Vigilance Commissioner, chairpersons and members for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Lokpal, they said.

The appointment of a Central Vigilance Commissioner and Vigilance Commissioner is done by the President on the basis of recommendation from a three-member Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising Minister for Home Affairs and Leader of Opposition in the House of the People, as per the Central Vigilance Act, 2003.

The Act further has a provision that when no such leader (LoP) has been recognised, then the Selection Committee can include the leader of the single largest group in Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

"No appointment of a Central Vigilance Commissioner or a Vigilance Commissioner shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in the Committee," the Act says. 

The Chairperson and members of NHRC are to be appointed by the President following a recommendation by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister (as Chairperson) and Lok Sabha Speaker, Minister-in-charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, as members, according to the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

"No appointment of a Chairperson or a member shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy of any member in the Committee," it says.

Similarly, as per the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, "No appointment of a Chairperson or a member shall be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in the Selection Committee." The Selection Committee, led by the Prime Minister, has as its members the Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the President or any other member.

However, the government is looking for ways to decide on the appointment of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners are appointed by the President following a recommendation by a Selection Committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the Leader of the Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister (to be nominated by the Prime Minister) as members.

"For the purposes of removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that where the Leader of Opposition in the House of the People has not been recognised as such, the Leader of the single largest group in Opposition of the government in the House of the People shall be deemed to be the Leader of Opposition," said the Right to Information Act, 2005.

Meanwhile, the government has put on hold the appointment process of the new chief of CIC due to the absence of the LoP in the Selection Committee leaving the transparency watchdog headless for the first time since its inception in 2005.

Chief Information Commissioner Rajiv Mathur had relinquished his charge on August 22. — PTI

NEW DELHI: When it comes to favouritism shown by government officials to influential corporates, India's ranking has improved sharply to 49th place on a global list, but remains below that of China and many major economies.

India's ranking has also improved significantly in terms of public trust in politicians, as also with regard to diversion of public funds and for the "irregular payments and bribery" at government institutions, as per an annual study by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

India was ranked 94th last year, while China's position has improved by seven places to 22nd in the latest ranking of countries for "favouritism shown by government officials".

Qatar has replaced Singapore as the top ranked country with least probability of such favouritism, while Venezuela continues to remain the worst place on this front.

The countries have been ranked on the basis of a survey of the extent to which "government officials show favouritism to well-connected firms and individuals when deciding upon policies and contracts".

In the BRICS block of five major emerging economies, India's ranking is better than that of Russia (87th), South Africa (104th) and Brazil (108th) on this list.

India is also ranked better than countries like Mauritius, Spain, Israel, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh, among others, on this list which forms part of the WEF's annual Global Competitiveness Report.

Qatar is followed by New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, UAE, the Netherlands, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in top 10. Among other major economies, the UK is ranked 17th and the US is at 47th place — only two positions higher than India.

Those ranked better than India also include Luxembourg, Germany, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Australia, France, Indonesia, Bhutan, Macedonia and Morocco.

According to the WEF methodology, the countries have been ranked on a scale of 1-7, where one means 'always show favouritism' and a score of 7 means "never show favouritism".

India's score stands at 3.4, while top ranked Qatar has scored 5.6 points. India had scored 2.79 last year.

The report further shows that India is now ranked 50th in terms of public trust in politicians, up from 115th last year.

Singapore is ranked the best on this front, followed by Qatar, UAE, Norway and Finland in the top-five.

In terms of instances of "diversion of public funds" also, India's ranking has moved up to 60th place, from 98th last year. This sub-ranking measures a country's score on how common is diversion of public funds to companies, individuals, or groups due to corruption.

In terms of overall "undue influence", India is ranked 50th in the latest list, while in terms of "irregular payments and bribes", India continues to rank low at 93rd place (up from 110th last year).

For ethical behaviour of private institutions, India is ranked 88th (down from 86th a year ago), while its ranking is relatively better at 65th place in terms of ethics and corruption at public institutions.

On overall global competitiveness front, India's rank has slipped 11 place to 71st position amid challenging economic conditions during most part of the last year, while Switzerland has retained its top spot.

As per the report, the most problematic factors for doing business in India include access to financing, high tax rates, tough foreign currency regulations, inadequate supply of infrastructure and corruption. — PTI

Peshawar/Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan): Islamic State pamphlets and flags have appeared in parts of Pakistan and India, alongside signs that the ultra-radical group is inspiring militants even in the strongholds of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

A splinter group of Pakistan’s Taliban insurgents, Jamat-ul Ahrar, has already declared its support for the well-funded and ruthless Islamic State fighters, who have captured large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in a drive to set up a self-declared caliphate.

“IS (Islamic State) is an Islamic Jihadi organisation working for the implementation of the Islamic system and creation of the Caliphate,” Jamat-ul Ahrar’s leader and a prominent Taliban figure, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told Reuters by telephone. “We respect them. If they ask us for help, we will look into it and decide.”

Islamist militants of various hues already hold sway across restive and impoverished areas of South Asia, but Islamic State, with its rapid capture of territory, beheadings and mass executions, is starting to draw a measure of support among younger fighters in the region.

Al-Qaeda’s ageing leaders, mostly holed up in the lawless region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, are increasingly seen as stale, tired and ineffectual on hardcore jihadi social media forums and Twitter accounts that incubate potential militant recruits.

Security experts say Islamic State’s increasing lure may have prompted al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri to announce the establishment of an Indian franchise to raise the flag of jihad across South Asia, home to more than 400 million Muslims.

Seeking to boost its influence in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, a local cell with allegiance to Islamic State has been distributing pamphlets in the Pakistani city of Peshawar and eastern Afghanistan in the past few weeks, residents said.
The 12-page booklet called “Fatah” (Victory), published in the Pashto and Dari languages of Afghanistan, was being mainly distributed in Afghan refugee camps on the outskirts of Peshawar.

The pamphlet’s logo features an AK-47 assault rifle and calls on local residents to support the militant group. Cars with IS stickers have also been spotted around Peshawar.

Sameeulah Hanifi, a prayer leader in a Peshawar neighbourhood populated mainly by Afghans, said the pamphlets were being distributed by a little-known local group called Islami Khalifat, an outspoken Islamic State supporter.

“I know some people who received copies of this material either from friends or were given at mosques by unidentified IS workers,” he told Reuters.

A Pakistani security official said the pamphlets came from Afghanistan’s neighbouring Kunar province where a group of Taliban fighters was spotted distributing them.

“We came across them 22 days ago and we are aware of their presence here,” said the official. “Pakistani security agencies are working on the Pakistan-Afghan border and have arrested a number of Taliban fighters and recovered CDs, maps, literature in Persian, Pashto and Dari.”

“We will not permit them to work in our country and anyone who is involved in this will be crushed by the government.”

Signs of Islamic State’s influence are also being seen in Kashmir, the region claimed by both India and Pakistan and the scene of a decades-long battle by militants against Indian rule. Security officials in Jammu and Kashmir say they have been trying to find out the level of support for the Arab group after IS flags and banners appeared in the summer.

Intelligence and police sources in New Delhi and Kashmir said the flags were first seen on June 27 in a part of the state capital Srinagar, and then in July when India’s only Muslim-majority region was marking Islam’s most holy day, Eid al-Fitr.

Some IS graffiti also appeared on walls of buildings in Srinagar. A police officer said youngsters carrying Islamic State flags at anti-India rallies had been identified but no arrests had been made.

Another officer who questions people detained in protests against Indian rule, many of them teenagers, said most were only focused on winning independence from India.

“The majority of them have no religious bent of mind,” he said. “Some of them, less than 1 per cent, of course are religious and radicalised and end up joining militant ranks. They are influenced by al-Qaeda, Taliban, Islamic State.”

Islamic State is also trying to lure Muslims in mainland India, who make up the world’s third-biggest Islamic population but who have largely stayed away from foreign battlefields despite repeated calls from al Qaeda.

In mid-July, an IS recruitment video surfaced online with subtitles in the Indian languages of Hindi, Tamil and Urdu in which a self-declared Canadian fighter, dressed in war fatigues and flanked by a gun and a black flag, urged Muslims to enlist in global jihad.

That came out just weeks after four families in a Mumbai suburb reported to the police that their sons had gone missing, with one leaving behind a note about fighting to defend Islam. It soon turned out that the men had joined a pilgrimage to Baghdad.

They later broke off from the tour group and never returned. Indian intelligence believe the men ended up in Mosul, the Iraqi city captured by Islamic State in June, and that one of them may have died in a bomb blast.

Last week, four young men, including two engineering college students, were arrested in the eastern city of Calcutta as they tried to make their way to neighbouring Bangladesh to join a recruiter for Islamic State based there, an English daily reported.

“It’s not just these four, but our investigations have found that there could be more youngsters who are in touch with IS handlers and this is a bit of a scary proportion,” the newspaper quoted a senior officer as saying.

A top official at India’s Intelligence Bureau in New Delhi told Reuters: “The problem is we know so little about this network or who is acting on their behalf here.

“We know roughly where the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Indian Mujahideen (organisations backed by Pakistan) support groups are, where they make contacts. But this is a different challenge. Youth getting radicalised in their homes on the Internet, in chatrooms and through Facebook are not easy to track.” — Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has threatened to drag embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Supreme Court to seek his disqualification for allegedly lying about protesters and the army in Parliament, as the political logjam showed no sign of easing.

Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), in an overnight address to protesters in front of Parliament also said the sit-in will continue until the government accepted his demands, including resignation of Sharif.

"The PTI leadership will approach the Supreme Court to get Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif disqualified as he was telling lies on the floor of the National Assembly regarding the leadership of the PTI, PAT and the army," Khan said.

He said Sharif was "lying" to harm his party and fiery cleric Tahirul Qadri.

Khan and Qadri have been protesting in front of Parliament to force Sharif's resignation over alleged rigging in the 2013 General Election won by his PML-N party.

Several rounds of talks have failed to resolve the over three-week-long crisis as protesters want nothing less than Sharif's ouster and fresh poll.

The government has ruled out Prime Minister's resignation and proposed a judicial commission to probe the alleged rigging, while Sharif has shown willingness to resign if the charges against him are proved.

Khan charged that the government was lying to the people of Pakistan that the Chinese President Xi Jinping has cancelled visit due to protests but the fact is that he had not planned to visit Pakistan, as the trip was not finalised.

He said the government's dialogue committee was announcing to the media that five demands of the PTI related to probe the alleged rigging in last year's poll and implement electoral reforms have been accepted but it has not informed the party about it.

Khan also criticised Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for telling a pack of lies to Parliament when he said growth rate had increased 4.1 per cent last year, as later he told the IMF officials that the growth rate remained at 3.3 per cent.

Khan had earlier alleged that the government lied to the people about army's mediation in the crisis.

Meanwhile, the talks between the government and PTI are expected to resume today after one day break.

The process is going very slow. The two sides have reported progress but still there are differences of over several issues.

Khan yesterday moved his makeshift stage, set-up on a shipping container mounted on a truck, from in front of the Secretariat buildings to D-Chowk facing Parliament.

Populist cleric Qadri of Pakistan Awaami Tehreek is also camping close to Khan's camp. His supporters have vacated the parking lot of Parliament and are now sitting near the Constitution Avenue. — PTI

HPCA case: Cong asks PK Dhumal, Anurag Thakur to resign

DHARAMSALA: A day after a trial court here issued summons to former Chief Minister and MLA P.K. Dhumal and his MP son Anurag Thakur in connection with a case of land allotment to HPCA, the Congress today demanded their resignations.

"Both the BJP leaders had been accusing Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in view of a matter pending in the Delhi High Court, though till date no order has been passed against him.

"Now as the court of special judge at Dharamsala has issued notices against them and 14 more persons, they must resign till the decision of the case comes," said Congress spokesperson Jitender Sharma.

Sharma said Prem Kumar Dhumal and Anurag Thakur hold Constitutional posts in the state Assembly and the Lok Sabha, respectively, and they should resign immediately.

A trial court here yesterday issued summons to Dhumal, his two sons and others to appear in person before it on October 27 in a case pertaining to allotment of land on lease to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).

Eighteen persons were charged on April 25 for alleged wrongdoing in allotment of land to HPCA, headed by Anurag Thakur, for constructing a plush residential complex for players near its stadium in Dharamsala.

Special Judge (Vigilance) K.K. Sharma issued summons to the accused but did not issue the same to two serving IAS officers, Deepak Sanan and Ajay Sharma, as the prosecution agency is yet to get sanction to proceed against them.

Sanan and Sharma were posted in the Revenue Department and Youth Services and Sports Department, respectively, when the land was allotted to HPCA.

The state government had on April 2 given sanction to initiate proceedings against Dhumal, during whose tenure as CM (2008-12) the land was allotted to HPCA.

Thakur is also the Joint Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau had registered a case in August 2013 against the HPCA functionaries under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988. — PTI

CHANDIGARH: Large number of passengers across Haryana faced inconvenience as the state roadways employees went on an indefinite strike against the government's move to grant route permits to private bus operators, even as authorities were holding talks with Union leaders to end the deadlock.

The Haryana Roadways employees yesterday gave a call for indefinite "chakka jaam' (shut down) after which buses went off road, leaving thousands of commuters stranded across the state.

The buses did not operate from depots in Chandigarh, Kaithal, Hisar, Yamunanagar, Panipat, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Sirsa, Rewari, Gurgaon and other places.

At several depots, the employees sat on dharna and raised slogans against the state government for its move to grant permits to private operators for 3,510 routes.

"When people are happy with the state transport buses, why is the government adamant on giving route permits to private operators across the state. Besides our main demand, we have other issues including the government not filling up several vacancies," Haryana Roadways Workers Union (HRWU) President Sarbat Singh Punia said.

Principal Secretary-cum-Financial Commissioner (Transport) R. R. Jowel said state Transport Minister and other government officials, including him, were holding talks with the Roadways employee union leaders in Karnal on Sunday to end the deadlock. — PTI