- National Testing Agency is likely to release the admit card for its NTA UGC- NET exam December 2019 today (10 November, Sunday).
- Earlier, the admit card was scheduled to be released on 9 November, 2019.
- Those candidates who have registered for the NTA UGC- NET December 2019 exam can download their admit card once it is declared online through the official website at ntanet.nic.in
- NTA will conduct the examination from 2 to 6 December, 2019.
UGC NET Admit Card December 2019: National Testing Agency (NTA) is likely to release the admit card for its UGC- NET exam December 2019 today (10 November, Sunday). NTA released an official notification stating the release date of the admit card on its official website at ntanet.nic.in.
Representational image. Reuters
Earlier, the admit card was scheduled to be released on 9 November, 2019.
"The Admit Card of UGC-NET December 2019 will be released on November 10, 2019, due to the extension of the last date for submission of online application form of UGC-NET December 2019 for the candidates of Jammu & Kashmir up to 08th November 2019," the official notification reads.
Those candidates who have registered for the NTA UGC- NET December 2019 exam can download their admit card once it is declared online through the official website.
NTA will conduct the examination from 2 to 6 December, 2019.
Steps to download UGC NET December 2019 admit card:
Step 1: Visit the official website at ntanet.nic.in.
Step 2: On the homepage, click on the link that reads, ‘NET December 2019 admit card,’
Step 3: A new page will appear on the display screen
Step 4: Enter your credentials and log in
Step 5: Admit card will appear on the screen
Step 6: Download the admit card and take print out for future reference.
Candidates are required to carry the admit card or hall ticket to the examination hall. No candidate will be allowed to sit for the examination without the admit card. The admit card will carry details like the date, time and venue of the examination.
Security forces gun down two terrorists during ongoing operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Bandipora district
- Two terrorists were killed on Monday in an encounter with the security forces in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir.
- This comes a day after one terrorist was killed in an ongoing encounter in the same district on Sunday.
- The encounter broke out when security forces launched a search operation after receiving specific information about the presence of some terrorists in the village, the officials said
Two terrorists were killed on Monday in an encounter with the security forces in Bandipora district of Jammu and Kashmir. This comes a day after a terrorist was killed in an ongoing encounter in the same district on Sunday.
#Bandipore update:
Two terrorists killed. Arms and ammunition recovered. Identity and affiliation being ascertained.@JmuKmrPolice— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) November 11, 2019
The encounter broke out when security forces launched a search operation after receiving specific information about the presence of some terrorists in the village, the officials said. According to the police, terrorists opened fire on the security personnel, who retaliated in exchange.
A few weeks ago, three terrorists were neutralised by security forces in an encounter in Awantipora, including a commander of Al Qaeda linked Ansar Ghazwat-ul Hind and Zakir Musa's successor, Abdul Hameed Lelhari.
Lelhari was named as the new commander of Ghazwat-ul-Hind in June this year after Zakir Musa was gunned down by security forces.
"Three killed terrorists identified as Naveed Tak, Hamid Lone alias Hamid Lelhari and Junaid Bhat involved in several terror crimes. Arms and ammunition recovered. Case registered," said the police.
More details are awaited.
With inputs from ANI
Updated Date: Nov 11, 2019 10:53:14 IST
Ayodhya judgment: SC using faith and religion to settle Ramjanmabhoomi title claim is disingenuous and insincere
- On the one hand, the 'unanimous' judgment of the Supreme Court asserts that it is deciding this case strictly in accordance with the law and on the basis of the evidence led by the parties
- On the other, it is very obvious that the way in which the Supreme Court has applied the law and assessed the evidence, it has used the lens of religion and faith to determine the validity of one claim over the other
- When stripped down to its basics, what the Supreme Court has really said is that India belongs to Hindus, and Muslims are here on the sufferance of the majority
The Supreme Court's judgment in the Babri Masjid title suit is dishonest and hypocritical.
Why do I say so?
On the one hand, the "unanimous" judgment of the Supreme Court asserts that it is deciding this case strictly in accordance with the law and on the basis of the evidence led by the parties. On the other, it is very obvious that the way in which the Supreme Court has applied the law and assessed the evidence, it has used the lens of religion and faith to determine the validity of one claim over the other.
On multiple occasions, whether in dealing with the validity of the Places of Worship Act, 1991 or in dealing with the arguments about the legal status of the deity and the place, the court repeats again and again how much it values secularism. Consider these lines from two different parts of the judgement for instance:
"Above all, the Places of Worship Act is an affirmation of the solemn duty which was cast upon the State to preserve and protect the equality of all faiths as an essential constitutional value, a norm which has the status of being a basic feature of the Constitution."
"Religious diversity undoubtedly requires the protection of diverse methods of offering worship and performing religious ceremonies. However, that a method of offering worship unique to one religion should result in the conferral of an absolute title to parties from one religion over parties from another religion in an adjudication over civil property claims cannot be sustained under our Constitution."
This is par for the course for a judgment written by Justice DY Chandrachud (even though he’s not mentioned as the author) — high-flown, high-minded rhetoric seeking to talk of constitutional values and principles. Read in advance, it would suggest that the court was going to go solely by law and evidence in deciding this case.
However, the fact that this principle of secularism has not really informed the core of the judgment is especially clear from the way in which it has weighed the claims of Hindu and Muslim parties to the title through "adverse possession". As this article points out, while Muslim parties had to prove through evidence that they enjoyed "exclusive possession" of the property, the court applies no such standard to the Hindu parties. Somehow, the fact that the site was used as a mosque even after 1858 is not considered sufficient to vest title of the property to the Muslim parties.
Representational image. Reuters
Perversely, the fact that ownership of the inner courtyard of the property was contested is held against the Muslim parties, but somehow also confers title to Hindu parties simply because they held the outer courtyard without contest. The court uses another sleight of hand to say that the whole property is indivisible and therefore whoever holds the outer courtyard must therefore be deemed have had exclusive possession of the entire property, irrespective of the fact that the title to the inner courtyard is the source of the dispute. This is an absurd finding of law and facts that finds no support in any realm of logic or reasoning.
That two very different standards are being applied to determine the claims of Hindu and Muslim parties is fairly clear from the way the judgment is reasoned. Yet, the court seems to believe that it is deciding this purely on secular principles of law. Even though the court notes that the placing of the idols in 1949 was clearly illegal and likewise the destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992, it seems to suggest that this only strengthened the case of the Hindu parties, despite noting the illegality of the acts.
When stripped down to its basics, what the Supreme Court has really said is that India belongs to Hindus, and Muslims are here on the sufferance of the majority. What follows from it is the relief that it has "moulded" — the title to the Hindu parties as a matter of right, an additional piece of land to the Muslim ones as charity. Hindus, in the court’s view, are the only ones capable of bearing rights as citizens whereas Muslims must make do with whatever comes their way out of charity or noblesse oblige.
This, needless to say, is the core ideology of the RSS and the BJP and this is what really informs the reasoning and the eventual conclusions of the court. The hypocrisy comes in through the lip service the court pays to secularism and the Constitution in the earlier part of the judgment and the elaborate pretence it enacts to suggest that this is indeed a judgment defensible on the law or on facts.
One gets the sense that the court is fully aware of the dishonesty and hypocrisy of its approach.
The main judgment, as mentioned earlier does not indicate an author. There’s an "addendum" tacked on at the end that the majority quite clearly wishes wasn't. The addendum is in fact a "concurring but actually dissenting" opinion authored by Justice Ashok Bhushan (again not named, but not hard to guess) which is refreshingly honest in arguing that religious claims by Hindus are above the law and the constitution.
In fact, he states straight away that the core question in the case is "whether the disputed structure is holy birthplace of Lord Ram as per the faith, trust and belief of Hindus". As far as he is concerned, the principles of evidence should be used to establish not objective facts on the ground but the "faith and belief" of Hindus. As far as he is concerned, once this is done, the act of setting up the Babri Masjid itself must be retroactively rendered illegal and the land rightfully restored to the Hindu parties.
I would call it a concurring opinion for the simple reason that what the rest of the judges have tried (and failed) to hide with disingenuous arguments about adverse possession and evidentiary standards, Bhushan has simply cut to the chase and held that in deciding the Ayodhya dispute, the court is only really concerned about the faith and belief of Hindus. For him, it is not a title suit. It is not about balancing or secularism or the Constitution. He is not interested in trying to account for the events of 1949 or 1992 in any way. His honesty on that front is refreshing, even though his open bigotry is less welcome.
Longstanding observers of the court will note that such dishonesty and hypocrisy on the part of the Supreme Court is not new. The most egregious example perhaps is Olga Tellis versus Bombay Municipal Corporation, where in a case concerning the eviction of pavement and slum dwellers by the now-Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, the Supreme Court waxed eloquent for multiple pages about the importance of the right to livelihood and shelter — before concluding that pavement and slum dwellers need not be heard by the BMC before being evicted since the Supreme Court itself had heard them and decided they be evicted because they are a "nuisance".
There too the Supreme Court found it in the goodness of its heart to give the pavement dwellers time till the end of that year’s monsoon to be evicted and maybe some land offered to them if the government thinks fit. It’s probably appropriate to note that the author of that judgment was then Chief Justice of India, Justice YV Chandrachud.
Updated Date: Nov 11, 2019 10:48:56 IST
Remembering TN Seshan: Behind that firmness that turned Election Commission into an institution was a softness only few saw
- Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan, who passed away on Sunday aged 86, was for many a tough bureaucrat whose sense of authority and occasional rage were legendary.
- His stellar track record as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service was overshadowed by his stint as the CEC.
- People who knew him to be an authoritarian figure also knew a softer, upright side that is difficult to capture except in anecdotes.
The story goes that when Subramanian Swamy as India's law minister under the short-lived Chandrashekhar government in 1991 played a pivotal role in the appointment of TN Seshan as the chief election commissioner, Rajiv Gandhi, whose Congress party played a key role in supporting and then toppling the government, asked him: "Do you realise what you have done?" Or something to that effect.
Tirunellai Narayana Iyer Seshan, who passed away on Sunday aged 86, was for many a tough bureaucrat whose sense of authority and occasional rage were legendary. To give this man who could not be easily cowed down even by the known discipline of politically mastered civil services a constitutional position of authority to run the polls in the world's largest democracy was to give unbridled powers.
Former chief election commissioner TN Seshan. Reuters
Yet, we know by now that Seshan elevated what was wrongly thought to be a routine bureaucratic job into a truly independent constitutional institution. His sense of transparency and articulation left little room for confusion or doubt, though his style and action were somewhat controversial. But people who knew him to be an authoritarian figure also knew a softer, upright side that is difficult to capture except in anecdotes.
When I asked him at a press conference on how he could be considered a fair referee in a situation where he was judging Swamy's Janata Party and its symbol, and whether there was a conflict of interest in it, he simply replied: "I will let you decide on that." He knew where the grey areas were, and knew the many layers of the onion.
Yet, the same Seshan flew into a rage and ordered a reporter out of press conference when asked a personal question in bad taste. Never the man to flinch, and yet never one to pretend what was not in his realm of control.
His stellar track record as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was overshadowed by his stint as the CEC. But I would also call him India's first "Greenocrat" for emphasising the importance of environmental issues, long before Delhi or Bangalore began choking in difficult air or Chennai faced a flood or water crisis. I have heard him speak at a seminar organised by the Centre for Science and Environment on water harvesting, one of the ideas he helped popularise long before it became a common term across India. Before he was cabinet secretary, he had been India's environment secretary. Way back in the 1980s, he was speaking for reducing emissions from two-stroke engines. He continued to wear a green hat while being India's election chief.
My first meeting with him was at the Planning Commission, to which he had just been sidelined as a member with cabinet rank by the new government of prime minister VP Singh whose Janata Dal-led coalition ousted Rajiv Gandhi from office. His large desk was devoid of the clutter of files characterising a typical bureaucrat. I remember him telling him he did not like to keep things lying. He acted quickly and decisively and spoke articulately with rare mental clarity.
I was in Etawah to see polling a day or two before Rajiv Gandhi's tragic assassination on 21 May, 1991 when the reporters witnessed first-hand acts of firing, rigging and booth capturing by hordes of supporters of Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Seshan lost no time in cancelling (countermanding) elections in the entire constituency that witnessed a re-poll. Yet, as the CEC, he knew that he could never be puritanical in enforcing a disciplined ballot. He used the term "acceptable levels of violence" as a pragmatic indication of when he would crack his whip and where he would not. He remarked once that he "ate politicians for breakfast". His perceived proximity to the Congress (which fielded him against LK Advani in Gandhinagar in 1999) cost him a bit of his famous halo, but there was little doubt that he was an incorruptible patriot. It must also be remembered he unsuccessfully ran in the presidential elections against Congress nominee KR Narayanan in 1997 as an Independent candidate.
My family received two phone calls from him. Once was to me as a journalist when he invited me to the launch of his Deshabhakt Trust. All I remember now is the pleasantness of the mood at his home and the fine Palakkad-inspired vegetarian cuisine at the lunch and the fact that this seemed hardly like the man who ate politicos for breakfast. His penchant and love for cooking and food is part of the folklore surrounding him.
The other call was to my late father, who never knew him. Seshan had met my sister at Princeton University in the US, where she was taking a mid-career course in public policy as a development professional. Apparently delighted to see an Indian woman in a saree at such a gathering, and given that development issues and administration were his pet areas, he took the phone number, came back to India and went out of his way to call and compliment my father, an introvert who never had a fancy for VIPs.
It is this unique mix of softness layered inside a man known to be a no-nonsense advocate of clean elections and clean environment that made him very special.
The writer is a senior journalist and commentator. He tweets as @madversity.
Updated Date: Nov 11, 2019 10:49:37 IST
Kashmir witnesses decline in gun battles with government forces focussed on preventing public protests
- There has been a decline in both cordon and search operations as well as encounters between the forces and militants
- Militants have however lobbed grenades at several places targeting the forces patrolling the streets
- In many parts of Kashmir including Pulwama, while people have not witnessed any gun battles after 5 August, they have been woken up by cordon and search operations in the middle of the night
Srinagar: Encounters between government forces and militants which had become a daily routine before the revocation of Article 370 have declined in number as the forces remain occupied in preventing public protests against the scrapping of Kashmir's special status.
There has been a decline in both cordon and search operations as well as encounters between the forces and militants. The militants have however lobbed grenades at several places targeting the forces patrolling the streets, resulting in injuries to several police and paramilitary personnel. Police officials cited the involvement of the forces in "law and order" duties to prevent public protests as a reason for the decline in anti-militancy operations.
They however also added that the lack of communication with informants — due to the snapping of mobile services — has also affected the flow of information about the presence of militants.
The authorities have only recently resumed postpaid mobile services even as both the internet and pre-paid mobile services continue to remain suspended here. The Valley has witnessed a shutdown since the revocation of special status, while scores of youth were also arrested for taking part in pro-Pakistan and anti-India demonstrations/ There are no reports of public demonstrations, but authorities have maintained a heavy deployment of forces on the
The government earlier ran advertisements asking people to lift the shutdown and any protests at the encounter sites are seen to be only a trigger for the deterioration of the situation. Senior police and CRPF officials only commented on the condition of anonymity that the gun battles have declined in numbers. Police officials said that at least three encounters were witnessed between
the forces and the militants since 5 August. They added that the number of gun battles launched was higher in the week prior to the revocation of special status than in the past 96 days.
The revocation of special status now allows non-residents to buy land and property in Kashmir.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Kulgam, Gurinder Pal Singh, said that while none of the encounters as launched in the militancy-prone districts of Kashmir since 5 August, cordon and search operations were underway. A senior police official posted in the Pulwama district said that the personnel dealing with anti-militancy operations couldn’t contact informants by phone due to the snapping of mobile services.
A senior police official of the superintendent of police (SP) rank however also added that "the decline in the anti-militancy operations was on account of the fact that the forces were busy in law and order duties". Across Kashmir, the forces have raised bunkers at several places and remain permanently stationed on roads and public squares.
However while there has been a decline in the anti-militancy operations here, the incidents of grenade attacks by the militants on the forces have increased. In the northern Kashmir area of Sopore last month, five policemen including a sub divisional police officer (SDPO) were injured and a militant died during the grenade explosion. The militant tried to lob the grenade on the forces but it exploded in his hand resulting in the splinter injuries to the policemen, a senior police official said.
He also said that militants recently also lobbed a grenade in the Sopore market which resulted in injuries to at least 20 civilians. A civilian died and 45 people including the personnel from the Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB) were injured when the militants hurled a grenade at Maharaj Gunj market last Monday. A police official said that the militants also hurled a grenade earlier near the Karan Nagar Police Station which resulted in the injuries to at least six members of CRPF personnel.
Police officials said that while the gun battles have declined militants have become active in Srinagar city as well where their presence was far sparser earlier. The movement of militants in the city
has also increased following Article 370 revocation, they added. A police official said that the bike-borne over ground workers (OGWs) of the militants were involved in hurling grenades at some places in Srinagar city.
Following this, he said, the police has intensified the vigil and security has been particularly beefed up across Srinagar city. The security presence has also increased in many towns and district
headquarters. Members of the forces are seen be patrolling roads and frisking people routinely now. At several places however local residents have complained that the forces have thrashed people during the patrols.
In many parts of Kashmir including Pulwama, while people have not witnessed any gun battles after 5 August, they have been woken up by cordon and search operations in the middle of the night.