Latest news with #Dogra
Time of India
a day ago
- General
- Time of India
Train to Kashmir: Maharaja Hari Singh's dream turns a reality
A train to the Kashmir valley through the arduous Shivalik and Pir Panjal mountain ranges is more than a century-old ambitious plan that is set to turn into reality on Friday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off a Vande Bharat train from Katra to Kashmir. Modi will also inaugurate the Chenab bridge , which will be the world's highest railway arch bridge. "What was once a vision proposed in the 19th century by the Dogra maharajas is now transforming into one of the most significant infrastructure achievements in independent India's history," a senior railway official said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like I lost my wife, now my son is in danger, please help him! Donate For Health Donate Now Undo Vikramaditya Singh, grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh and son of former Sadr-e-Riyasat Karan Singh, said he feels proud that the Dogra ruler's plan conceived over 130 years ago has finally materialised. "The railway line project to the Kashmir Valley was first envisaged and drawn up during Maharaja Pratap Singh's rule. It is a matter of great pride not only for the people of Jammu & Kashmir but for the entire nation that this dream will be realised by our prime minister," Singh, who has been a legislator in Jammu and Kashmir, told PTI. Live Events The Dogra ruler had commissioned British engineers to survey the rugged terrain for a railway route to Kashmir, an ambitious project that remained unrealised for over a century. He appointed three British engineers to prepare and execute detailed reports. However, two of the three reports prepared in 11 years between 1898 and 1909 were rejected. According to special documents from the Jammu and Kashmir archives department , the idea of a rail link to Kashmir was first proposed on March 1, 1892 by the Maharaja. Subsequently, in June 1898, British engineering firm S R Scott Stratten and Co was engaged to conduct surveys and execute the project. The first report, submitted by D A Adam, recommended an electric railway between Jammu and Kashmir regions, featuring steam locomotives on a narrow two-feet-six-inch gauge line. This proposal was rejected due to the challenging elevation levels. Another proposal, submitted in 1902 by W J Weightman, suggested a railway line connecting Kashmir from Abbottabad (now in Pakistan) along the Jhelum river. This, too, was turned down. The third proposal, by Wild Blood, recommended a railway alignment along the Chenab river through the Reasi area. This report was approved. Later, plans for powering electric trains and establishing power stations near Udhampur, Ramsu, and Banihal were also examined but ultimately rejected. Following this, British engineer Col D E Bourel was tasked with submitting a detailed report on local coal reserves. Additionally, a report was commissioned from T D La Touche, the then deputy superintendent of the Geological Survey of India, on the Sangarmarg and Mehowgala coal mines. In December 1923, S R Scott Stratten and Co was re-engaged to implement the coal extraction project. However, the death of Maharaja Pratap Singh in 1925 and the growing Indian independence movement led to the project being shelved permanently, the documents said. The idea was revived nearly six decades later, when the then prime minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone for the Jammu-Udhampur-Srinagar railway line in 1983. At the time, the project was estimated to cost Rs 50 crore and was expected to be completed in five years, officials said. However, in 13 years, only 11 km of the line could be constructed, which comprised 19 tunnels and 11 bridges - at a cost of Rs 300 crore, they said. It was followed by the broader Udhampur-Katra-Baramulla railway project, estimated at Rs 2,500 crore, which saw its foundation stones laid by prime ministers H D Deve Gowda and I K Gujral in 1996 and 1997 at Udhampur, Qazigund, and Baramulla. Construction began in 1997 but faced repeated delays due to challenging geological, topographical, and weather conditions, significantly inflating the cost to over Rs 43,800 crore as of now. Recognising the strategic importance of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Line (USBRL), it was declared a national project in 2002, the officials said. Out of the 272 km stretch, 209 km has already been commissioned in phases including Qazigund-Baramulla in 2009, Banihal-Qazigund in 2013, Udhampur-Katra in 2014, and Banihal-Sangaldan in 2023. The final stretch connecting Katra to Sangaldan has completed the link in February 2024, they said. The engineering marvel includes 38 tunnels and 927 bridges along the Kashmir rail project. The highlight is the Chenab bridge, standing 359 metres above the riverbed which is 35 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower making it the world's highest railway arch bridge, they said. "The Kashmir train project, once just a royal vision, now stands as a symbol of national integration and engineering excellence", an official said. To support construction in the rugged, militancy-affected terrain, more than 215 km of approach roads were built, many in areas previously accessible only by foot or boat. This improved infrastructure has transformed the lives of approximately 1.5 lakh people in 70 remote villages such as Dugga, Surukot, Sawalkot, Khari, and Hingni. These areas have seen the emergence of marketplaces, eateries, and repair shops, significantly boosting local livelihoods, the officials said.
Time of India
27-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
India's first AI-enabled light tank Zorawar to roll out from Guj soon
Ahmedabad: India is preparing to roll out its first indigenous AI-enabled light tank, Zorawar, being manufactured at Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) facility in Gujarat's Hazira shortly, defence sources said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Developed in collaboration with the (DRDO), Zorawar represents a major leap in India's defence manufacturing capability. Nearly 400 units of the Zorawar tank will be produced in the first phase, with each tank estimated to cost around Rs 70 crore. The total requirement is pegged at approximately 1,000 tanks. This next-generation, all-terrain tank will be the first AI-enabled tank for deployment across deserts, plains, high-altitude mountains, marshlands and even waterbodies. Senior defence officials stated that several components of the tank were locally sourced, with MSMEs in Vadodara, Rajkot and Surat contributing to its parts. The tank's cooling system, rubber foundry and gear mechanisms were all conceptualised and developed domestically. Weighing just around 25 tonnes — significantly lighter than traditional 70-tonne tanks — Zorawar is optimised for rapid deployment and can be easily airlifted using military aircraft. Its lightweight, high-strength titanium body is fitted with 80gm armoured plating. The tank is tailored for high-altitude warfare, particularly along the Indo-China border including regions like Ladakh. After Operation Sindoor, Zorawar is also being considered for deployment along the Indo-Pak border, especially in Punjab, where its agility in narrow terrains could offer strategic advantages, the defence official stated. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Named after the 19th century Dogra general, Zorawar Singh — known for his military campaigns in Ladakh and western Tibet — the tank carries his legacy of mountain warfare. Zorawar is built for modern battlefield conditions with several advanced features. "Its AI-enabled fire control system allows the tank to automatically identify and lock on to targets, requiring just two to three crew members instead of the usual four to five. A key addition is its integrated anti-drone defence system that can detect, track and neutralise aerial threats autonomously," the defence official said.
Mint
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
‘The Last Knot': A novel rooted in Kashmir's past, present and future
Shabir Ahmad Mir's new novel, The Last Knot, is set in Kashmir under the Dogra rule, but the overall mood it conjures up isn't a million miles away from the state of darkness and despair that the region has found itself plunged into over the last several decades. The main actors of his story are the Muslim carpet weavers from the state, who, in the 19th century, had to pay exorbitant taxes under the rule of the Dogra kings. Although their craftsmanship was highly valued, these carpet weavers could not save themselves from persecution by the ruling elite. The price of defection from their profession could be lethal, including death, so running away wasn't a solution. The community was kept under a strict watch, tethered to weaving carpets all their lives, their thumbs bound to the loom, as the narrator puts it towards the end of the novel. The outcome of their hard labour—the precious things of beauty they produced—bore no trace of their inhuman toil, all the blood, sweat and suffering that it exacted from the weavers. Living under this oppressive regime, the protagonist of Mir's story is not any ordinary weaver. He dreams of creating a magic carpet, one that is able to fly unfettered over the vast hills and dales of his homeland. Like those who live in subjugation and conflict zones, his wish is to find freedom from a life preordained to a state of servitude. Exasperated by his ambition, his wusteh, or master, sends off his apprentice to seek out Abli Bab, the thumbless weaver, who lives in a secret cave in the mythical Haer Parbat. Like the fantastical adventures of Amir Hamza, the fleeing weaver's journey towards creating his magic carpet is crossed by fatal enemies. But unlike the exploits of the folkloric hero, this flesh-and-blood man must weather the storms of a merciless world, where soldiers are out for his blood. Mir packs into his protagonist the tragic consciousness of a Hamlet-like figure, who is forced to feign madness in order to deceive the tyrants hot on his trail. He finds refuge with a rangur, a seasoned dyer, who, in spite of his mastery at his trade, is unable to concoct the perfect blue, a dye that won't run out under the influence of the elements. It's the only secret of his trade his forefathers had failed to pass on to him, a fate from which he has no redemption. Living as a destitute moutt (madman) with this dyer and his daughter Heemal, the weaver finds himself in possession of the mysterious key to the colour blue. But his discovery is lost in a cycle of deception—the dyer betraying his daughter, who betrays the moutt, who, in turn, betrays her, and so on. Also read: A Kashmiri writer wonders why states are afraid of poets The Last Knot is a fount of fascinating stories— some drawn from history, others from folklore and oral traditions—endlessly proliferating as the novel moves on, like Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Mir's design is complex and intricate, like a finely woven carpet, where facts and fiction merge to create truths that no folklorist or historian has had access to. The novel may hark back to the past, but the writer's consciousness is keenly informed by the realities of his time. The result is a tapestry made of time, tightly knotted up like an expertly woven carpet, where the strands of past, present and future can no longer be untangled. In spite of its social realist scaffolding, The Last Knot is a deeply modernist novel, told through episodes that interlock, overlap, and repeat, pulling the reader into a dizzying maze of stories. The progression of the plot isn't linear, and the ending isn't neat either. Like his debut novel, The Plague Upon Us (2020), Mir doesn't make it easy for the reader who looks for a structure—one that will lead to an inevitable crescendo. Instead, he likes to layer his narrative with allusions— especially to Greek mythology, Oedipus Rex, and the blind prophet Tiresias in this novel—all the while spinning a web of words that seduces the reader to keep turning the page. It may be tempting to label The Last Knot as a work of magic realism, but that would be a disservice to the novel. More fittingly, the novel resembles a hall of mirrors, where the atrocities of the past and present reflect one another in an endless loop to create a premonition of the future. Just as the British sold Kashmir to Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler, for a sum of ₹75 lakh in 1846 following the Treaty of Amritsar, a century later, the same colonial rulers left the region in a shambles after the independence of India and Pakistan. As Hari Singh, the last ruler of the Dogra dynasty, acceded Kashmir to the Dominion of India, his action triggered a conflict that continues to this day, with no end in sight. Also read: Book excerpt: An army general looks back on the Indo-Pak conflict of 1948 In a sense, The Last Knot may be read as a prequel to The Plague Upon Us, which is focused on Kashmir's present crisis. The Last Knot is almost like a preamble of things to come, but both novels fit into the intellectual vision of Mir's career as a fiction writer—one that he outlined in an essay he wrote for Lounge in 2021, shortly after he had been nominated for the JCB Prize for Literature that year. As he wrote, raising a rhetorical question, 'There is too much blood for good literature in Kashmir, says writer Arundhati Roy. Should I, then, let my aesthetic reign supreme and dilute the blood? Or should I let the blood of my people overwhelm my art and reduce whatever I write to mere polemic?" It's not easy for a writer marked by the tragic history they have inherited to walk the fine line between aesthetics and politics, to refuse to let their creative impulses be subsumed by a desire to speak on behalf of their people, who have been living through violence and injustice for centuries. With The Last Knot, Mir has proved that it is indeed possible to experiment with form, structure and ideas, while staying rooted to the harsh reality of his people's lives—the impossibly knotted past, present and future that bind them all together into a common fabric of tragedy.
The Courier
15-05-2025
- The Courier
Thursday court round-up — Crashes, cyclist and cannabis
A teenage driver who fractured his hip and had to be cut out of his car following a crash has been disqualified for four months. appeared at Forfar Sheriff Court to admit a reduced charge of careless driving, having initially been charged with driving dangerously. On July 20 last year, he turned right off the A935 between Montrose and Brechin at the Pugeston Junction and collided with an oncoming Nissan Qashqai, spinning several times and scuffing a third car waiting at the junction. The oncoming Qashqai spun 180 degrees and came to rest on the road. 19-year-old Pittendreich had to be cut out of his car, which was written off. He admitted failing to keep proper observations, turning into the face of oncoming traffic and colliding with the vehicles. His solicitor Nick Markowski said: 'The junction at Pugeston is notorious – it's caught out a lot of drivers over the years – experienced drivers, as well as Mr Pittendreich. 'He had a fractured hip as a result of that. He was off the road for a couple of months. 'It's been a misjudgement. It was a loss of about £4,000 to £5,000 to him. It's been quite a lesson to him.' Pittendreich, of Glenskinno near Montrose, was banned and fined £320 altogether by Sheriff Mark Thorley, who said: 'This could have had terrible consequences, I'm sure you're aware of that.' A pet owner whose bulldog was found malnourished, infected and shut away in a squalid bedroom has been banned from keeping animals. The dog called Hugo had to be put to sleep after it was discovered severely underweight with his ribs visible. appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and admitted causing his dog unnecessary suffering. The 27-year-old, from Glenrothes, was spared jail but banned from keeping pets for five years. A cyclist suffered a serious injury after being struck by a careless driver in Dundee. denied causing the man to suffer serious injury through careless driving on August 15 2024 on Lochee Road and Rankine Street, Dundee. The 69-year-old Dogra, who was driving a Mercedes-Benz, failed to give way and entered a road when it was unsafe to do so and colliding with the cyclist. Dundee Sheriff Court heard how the man suffered an injury to his collar bone. Dogra, of Bank Avenue, was found guilty by Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith who ordered him to pay £500 in compensation and a £200 fine. He was also disqualified from driving for 12 months. A Fife nightclub worker was glassed, chased and headbutted in a sickening Halloween attack by a group of four people. , 50, , 24, , 20, and , 18, appeared together at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and admitted assaulting the employee at the town's Society venue on October 31. The charge states the group repeatedly pushed him, threw a drink over him and threw a glass at him, striking him on the head with it. They repeatedly slapped him on the head, pinned him against a wall and headbutted him. The accused then repeatedly punched him on the head and body, pursued him into a private staff area and forced open a private door. They climbed over a counter in the bar area to gain access to further assault him. Next, they repeatedly kicked and punched him when he was on the ground, repeatedly stamped on his body and threw a plant at him, all to his injury. Three of the attackers were sentenced to unpaid work. A sheriff slapped a driver with a £940 fine after he was found to be more than four times the legal limit for cannabis. was caught by police on the A92 at Dundee's East Dock Street, near Market Street, on August 15 last year. Dundee Sheriff Court heard how officers received a tip-off the 27-year-old grounds worker was under the influence of the Class B drug. He was stopped just before 5pm and Keith, of Seton Terrace in Kennoway, admitted he had taken cannabis the night before. Keith pled guilty on the day he was due to stand trial that he drove with excess psychoactive constituent of cannabis (9.8mics/ 2). Sheriff Tim Niven-Smith, already unimpressed he was late to appear in the dock, asked solicitor Leigh Martin: 'When was his last joint? This is at five to five in the evening.' Ms Martin said it was Keith's position he last smoked cannabis at 11.30pm the night before. After disqualifying Keith from driving for 14 months and issuing the fine, the sheriff said: 'That should reinforce the error of his ways.'
Hindustan Times
14-05-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Ludhiana: Nilaruna, Nitin top PSEB Class 12 exams in district
The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared the Class 12 results on Wednesday, bringing pride to schools and families across the district. Two students, Nilaruna Dogra of BCM School, Focal Point, and Nitin Bhatt of RS Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, emerged as district toppers, both securing a remarkable 99.4% with 497 out of 500 marks. Nilaruna, a humanities student and a national-level softball player, dreams of becoming an IAS officer. She scored a perfect 100 in English and history and says her daily routine and focused preparation helped her achieve this success. 'I used to study from 6pm to 11pm regularly, and during exams, my study time stretched to 10 hours a day with short breaks,' she shared. Currently preparing for the law entrance exam at Panjab University, Dogra credits her success to her family and previous school toppers who inspired her. 'My family never pressurised me for marks. They always encouraged me to gain knowledge instead of chasing numbers,' she added. Last year, she won a silver medal in the national games held in Andhra Pradesh and was the only student from her school to represent at the national level in softball. Nitin Bhatt, a non-medical student, matched Dogra's score with 497 marks. Studying at RS Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, Bhatt's consistent efforts and dedication earned him the top position in the district alongside Dogra. Several other students also made the district proud by securing the second position with 98.4% marks. Among them was Prabhjot Singh from Atam Manohar Jain Modern Senior Secondary School, Khanna. Scoring a perfect 100 in mathematics, chemistry, and English, Prabhjot aspires to become a computer science engineer. 'I didn't take any coaching for mathematics. I focused on self-study and stayed away from social media. Watching cricket helped me relax during the exams,' he said. Son of a driver, Prabhjot had previously made it to the merit list in Class 10 with a score of 97.8%. Rajveer Kaur and Amandeep Kaur, both commerce stream students from the Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, also shared the second spot in the district. Rajveer, daughter of a farmer and a homemaker, aims to pursue her undergraduate studies at Punjabi University. 'I wasn't someone who studied five to six hours every day. I focused in class and studied with dedication during exams,' she explained. Amandeep credited her success to the support from her teachers and parents. 'I stayed consistent with my studies and didn't stress over marks,' she added. Niharika Gujral, a medical student from Shaheed-e-Azam Sukhdev Thapar Girls School of Eminence, Bharat Nagar Chowk, also stood second in the district. With a perfect 100 in physics, she now plans to drop a year to prepare for the NEET exam, aspiring to become a gynaecologist. 'I prefer studying at night and even stayed awake before my physics, chemistry, and Punjabi exams,' she said. Other high scorers who earned the second position in the district include Divjot Singh from RS Model School and Anmolpreet Kaur from SGD Grammar Senior Secondary School. Scored big against all odds Beating all odds and rising above financial hardships, Shikhar Shrivastav, a non-medical stream student of School of Eminence, Sekhewal, has made his mark by securing an impressive 90.4% in the Class 12 examinations, the results of which were announced by the PSEB. Shikhar's journey is nothing short of inspirational. Having lost his father at a young age, he now lives in Ludhiana with his uncle and aunt, while his mother and brother stay in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. His uncle works as a watchman in the same school where Shikhar studies. Despite such personal and financial challenges, he remained focussed on his studies and emerged successful, scoring 452 out of 500 marks. 'My mother doesn't earn, and my brother, who is pursuing his undergraduate degree, works part-time to support the family. He also sends me money to manage my expenses here,' Shikhar shared. Relying entirely on self-study, Shikhar made consistent efforts by practising previous years' question papers and sample tests. He had earlier scored 90.6% in his Class 10 exams, proving that his academic excellence is the result of dedication and hard work. Speaking about his routine, he said, 'On normal days, I used to study from 7pm to 10pm, and after a short break, continued until 2am. During exams, I stretched my study time even further.' Shikhar, who credits his success to his school faculty and principal Naresh Kumar, aspires to become a computer science engineer and later plans to appear for civil services exam.
