EDUCATION

September 15 Private Schools’ Association of Jammu Kashmir (PSAJK) today condemned the suspension of recognition of R P School, a reputed educational institute In Srinagar. The Association termed it as a blatant misuse of power by the people who are in authority. “R P School is one of the best schools in the entire state. It has produced thousands of position holder students and its alumni are spread all around the world,” said G N Var, chairman PSAJK. “One cannot just issue an order and place at risk career of thousands of students.” The Association said that taking cognizance of complaints and working for the betterment of education is indeed a good step taken by the government, but issuing orders that force educational institutes to close down is a dangerous situation. "We feel...

August 28 Air pollution causes a "huge" reduction in intelligence, according to new research, indicating that the damage to society of toxic air is far deeper than the well-known impacts on physical health. The research was conducted in China but is relevant across the world, with 95% of the global population breathing unsafe air. It found that high pollution levels led to significant drops in test scores in language and arithmetic, with the average impact equivalent to having lost a year of the person's education. Polluted air can cause everyone to reduce their level of education by one year, which is huge, said Xi Chen at Yale School of Public Health in the US, a member of the research team. "But we know the effect is worse for the elderly, especially those over 64, and for men,...

July 14 A huge dinosaur the size of a double-decker bus has been dug up by scientists in Argentina. The monster’s discovery reveals that giant dinosaurs evolved a staggering 30 million years earlier than expected. The creature changes our understanding of how this group of species became so large. Its growth was fuelled by bird-like lungs that would have made it remarkably light on its feet. The dino was about 33 feet long, 14 feet tall and weighed up to ten tons. It roamed South America around 210 million years ago during the Late Triassic. With this discovery, we can see the first steps toward gigantism occurred 30 million years before the giants dominated practically the entire planet. Dinosaurs first appeared around 230 million years ago, and it was believed to have take...

June 20 In the event of failure of constitutional machinery in any other state of India, the President’s Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution. But in case of Jammu and Kashmir, the Governor’s Rule for a period of six months is imposed under the provision of Section 92 of the State Constitution and the proclamation to this effect is issued by the Governor only after the consent of the President of India. The State Assembly is either kept in suspended animation or dissolved. If it is not possible to restore the Constitutional machinery before the expiry of this six month period, the provision of Article 356 of the Constitution is extended and the President’s rule is imposed in the State. Here is what the Governer's rule means The Governer can himself carry out all or an...

March 31 There is nothing much to worry if you are stopped by traffic police, but there are some rights that as a commuter you should know: 1. Traffic police are required to carry a challan book or e-challan machine in order to penalise you. Without having any of these, the police cannot penalise you. 2. If you are stopped by a traffic police, usually the first thing is that you must stop your vehicle and produce documents required by the officer. Remember you are only required to show the driving license to the police. It is completely your choice if you want to hand over the documents or not. Section 130 of the Motor Vehicle Act categorically states that the driver of a motor vehicle in any public place shall on demand by any police officer in uniform produce his license for exami...