Thought of the month: Culture/Heritage Sindhu Darshan Festival at Leh, Ladakh If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness and fears. Glenn Clark From Editors desk Jammu and Kashmir update is a unique initiative of Ministry of Home Affairs to showcase the positive developments taking A large number of tourists throng Leh city in J&K every year to place in the state, The ambit witness the annual Ladakh Sindhu Festival, the symbolic festival of the magazine covers all the of Indus River. The festival is a carnival of tourists, in particular three regions of the state with foreigners. focus on achievements of the The festival is an effort towards unity and communal harmony. It people. represents river Sindhu as symbol of diverse cultural identities and peaceful co-existence. It is also symbolic salutation to To make it participatory, the courageous soldiers of the country. magazine invites success The three-day extravaganza this year was inaugurated by stories/unique achievements, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at Leh on June 12. Describing Sindh river as the fountain head of one of the world’s along with photographs in the oldest civilizations, he said the Indus is not a river but a flowing field of sports, adventure sports, civilization that makes us proud of our glorious and historic past. studies, business, art, culture, He asserted that Ladakh’s identity as a great seat of Buddhist culture will be showcased before the world. positive welfare initiatives, social change, religious The great Buddhist culture, living in Monasteries in Leh and outside , which continue to mesmerise visitors, is main attraction harmony, education including in Leh. pieces of art like drawings, The Sindhu Darshan celebrations include traditional ceremonies cartoons, poems, short stories involving Buddhist prayers by senior Lamas which commence (not more than 150 words) or the festival. First day of celebration witnesses reception for the participants on the banks of Sindhu at Shey. The reception jokes on post Box No 30, GPO, ceremony is organised by joint associations of committees of New Delhi-110001. Selected various religious groups. ones will be published in J&K The festival was first held with great pomp and show in June update. 2000, inaugurated by former PM A.B. Vajpayee, who also laid foundation stone of Sindhu culture Centre. Leh is scheduled to hold Mega Hemis Mela next year. 2 DEVELOPMENT UDAAN’S FLIGHT AND FEEDBACK NSDC Recruitment Drives in districts of Jammu and Kashmir in June, 2015 In June, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Ministry of Home Affairs are undertaking a special recruitment drive in area of Jammu and Kashmir. Over 10 corporates from across India visited Jammu, Kathua, Beerwah, Shopian etc. for recruitment drives in June, 2015. The corporates from various sectors including Finance, Human Resource, Construction, Automation and Information Technology & IT Udaan Mega Drive –Jammu Enabled Services recruited fresh talent from Jammu and Kashmir. More than 1353 selection were made over a period of ten days. These drives are a part of series of mega selection drives being conducted in the state to scout fresh talent from the State. More than twenty drives have already been conducted in various districts of Jammu and Kashmir which has shown tremendous response from the students. Udaan Mega Drive- Kathua S District Date Venue Udaan Candidate Lovejeet Singh No. I am a Mechanical Engineering 1 Jammu 11th – Jammu University Graduate from Jammu. I got 12th June this opportunity through Udaan scheme of getting trained with 2 Kathua 18th – Government Shahi Exports. After joining the 19th June Degree College training program, I have learnt (Kathua) several new concepts, which I am sure will help me in future 3 Beerwah 22nd Government to work and grow in reputed (Budgam) –23rd June Degree College firms. I am able to improve my (Beerwah) Lovejeet Singh from communication skills. I have also made some new friends. We 4 Shopian 24th – Government Jammu Trainee have also visited famous places 25th June Degree College Shahi Exports (Shopian) like Red Fort, Bangla Sahib and Lotus Temple. My sincere thanks to Shahi Exports and 5 Samba 29th – Government Udaan for providing me such a platform to make my 30th June Degree College dream come true. 3 TOURISM Noori Chumb waterfall attracts summer tourists The Noori Chumb waterfall in Kashmir Valley has become a tourist’s destination and tourists from the state and across India are thronging the place to get respite from the summer heat. They are left enchanted by the beauty of the waterfall and find it amazing. The historic Noori waterfall is situated between Behramgala and Chandimarh on Mughal Road and is 45 kilometres from Poonch district. Named after Mughal Queen Noor Jahan, the waterfall is of historical significance as it is believed that the Queen used to bathe in the drizzling water here during her visit to the State. YOUTH CORNER Leh hosts Cricket tournament to send out social message to youth In a bid to encourage youth towards sports and keep construction sports infrastructure with the help of them away from bad habits, a cricket tournament was administration and councils, enabling better facilities organized recently at the newly prepared ground in to the budding players. Leh.The 18th Nawang Dorjay Stobdan Memorial cricket tournament was held under the aegis of Leh- “Tip Top Sports and Culture Welfare Society have based Tip Top Sports and Cultural Welfare Society been making all efforts to promote the students and (TTSCWS). Twenty(20) teams participated in the young players of Ladakh. Apart from conducting event. various tournaments, TTSCWS also tries to convey a message to the youth, to stay away from drugs abuse, Appreciating the organizing committee, Ladakh smoking, alcoholism and other anti-social activities. Buddhist Association (LBA) Vice President Tsering Morup said that such tournaments help in building The players and spectators observed two minutes communal harmony, unity among different religions, silence at the begining of the tournament to pay besides spreading a social message to the society. tributes to the Nepal Earthquake victims. He advised the sports fraternity to organize a women cricket t o u r n a m e n t also, so that they too could show their hidden talent at state level. He expressed the hope for speedy c o m p l e t i o n of the under 4 Cyclothon help to bridge the gap between said that the objective of the event was to involve the police and people local youth, connect with them, and bridge the gap between the police and people.He gave out that More than 2,000 cycling enthusiasts participated in various other sports events will also be organised a cyclothon held recently in Srinagar, called “Pedal across the state to engage the youth. for Kashmir’. The event was organised by the state Participants hailed the initiative and felt happy as it police and was flagged off by the Director General of would promote sports. Jammu and Kashmir Police, K Rajendra Kumar, who Srinagar ready to host International time on Astro turf ground with the help of the state football sports council. Football is very popular among youths in the The only football Astro turf in Jammu & Kashmir is state. Santosh Trophy has also been held in the ready to host international matches after its ground valley. The Astro turf ground will now further was cleared by the Federation Internationale de boost the players, giving them a good platform. Football Association (FIFA) in March. Players like Bashir Ahmad felt that playing on Recently, the J&K Football Association organised Astro turf ground gives a whole new experience the Football Fanatics Tournament 2015 for the first to the players. 5 OTHER ACTIVITIES Khirbhawani Mela symbolises religious harmony A large number of Kashmiri Pandits from across India attended the annual Khirbhawani Mela at the Khirbhawani temple in Tul Mul village, about 26 kilometres from Srinagar city.This year saw a large number of devotees thronging the temple. The devotees prayed for peace and brotherhood in Kashmir valley. The communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims was on full display during the festival, as the Kashmiri Muslims made all the arrangements for the Hindus visiting the temple. Devotees were overwhelmed with the response from their Kashmiri Muslim brethren. A Muslim resident Shaukat, who took part in the arrangements, informed that the Muslims were happier to welcome their Hindu brethren. International buyer-seller meet held in valley to promote Kashmiri handicrafts The sixth edition of International buyer-seller meet was held in the Kashmir valley to promote state’s handicraft products. The three day business meet, which was organised by the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), was inaugurated by the state’s Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. Hundreds of stalls exhibiting handicraft products depicting Kashmiri art on carpets, shawls, paper mache, wooden pieces, crewel embroidery work were installed by the sellers to attract business tycoons from as many as 21 countries, including U.S., South Africa, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, France and Russia. Organiser of the meet, Fayaz Bakshi, said that besides promoting Kashmiri art across the world, the event also aimed at achieving dignity of labour. He hoped that the handicraft business, which came down from rupees 2,000 crore (US $ 313.62 million) to rupees 1,200 crore (US $ 188.17 million) post floods, will see a notch up. He is also of the opinion that these kinds of buyer-seller promotional meets will boost morale of artisans and weavers,who are depressed after floods of last year. 6 Talent hunt competition attracts Ganderbal youth Youth in the Kashmir Valley have immense talent, and in an effort to reach out to these youngsters, the Indian army recently organised a talent hunt competition named ‘ZAHANAT-2015’ in Ganderbal District.