Latest news with #SunilSharma
India Gazette
2 days ago
- Business
- India Gazette
NeGD launches 'AI in Governance' training programme for government officials at IIT Delhi
New Delhi [India], June 26 (ANI): The National e-Governance Division (NeGD), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), has launched a 2-day training programme on 'Artificial Intelligence in Governance' at the Department of Management Studies (DMS), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. The programme is being held from June 26 - 27, according to a release issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics & IT. The training workshop was inaugurated by Rajnish Kumar, COO & Director, NeGD, Sunil Sharma, Director, NeGD, and Prof Surya Prakash Singh, Head of Department, DMS, IIT Delhi. A total of 59 government officials from various central ministries, State Departments, and government bodies are participating in this capacity-building initiative focused on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in public governance. Conducted under the Capacity Building Scheme (CB Phase III) of the Digital India Programme, this programme is designed to enhance the knowledge and preparedness of officers in leveraging AI for improving service delivery, decision-making, and citizen engagement. It addresses key themes such as AI policy frameworks, ethical and legal considerations, digital transformation strategies, and real-world use cases of AI in governance. The training also features interactive sessions and group exercises aimed at contextualizing AI applications in departmental contexts. This initiative aligns with the core objective of CB Phase III, which is to build institutional and individual capacities for digital governance across all levels of government. The Capacity Building team at NeGD has played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and coordinating this programme in collaboration with IIT Delhi, ensuring academic depth, practical relevance, and strategic alignment with governance reforms. As India moves toward digitally enabled public services, such programmes are vital in preparing officers to navigate and lead technology-driven change with confidence and foresight, as per the ministry. (ANI)
India Gazette
21-06-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
J-K: LoP Sunil Sharma says Yoga at Lal Chowk sends message of unity
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 21 (ANI): Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Sunil Sharma, on Saturday said the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations at Srinagar's iconic Lal Chowk sent a powerful message of unity and peace from a location once associated with tension and conflict. 'It gives me immense relief that at the Lal Chowk, where we have always seen tensions, today under the tricolour, Yoga, which is a part of our culture, is being performed... We have sent a message that the people of J&K are united,' Sharma told ANI at the event. Earlier in the day, Indian Army personnel from the Krishna Ghati Brigade's Balnoi Battalion also marked the occasion with a yoga session in Poonch, which saw enthusiastic participation from locals of nearby border villages including Balnoi, Dad Sagra, and Mankot. Mohamed Ashraf Chaudhary, a resident, told ANI, 'People from Banloi, Dad Sagra, Mankot came with great enthusiasm. This was the biggest event after Operation Sindoor. I thank the Army for organising it and for always supporting us.' Chaudhary added that the Army not only defends the borders but also works hand-in-hand with residents to raise awareness and build stronger ties. Moin Aftab Khan, a social activist from Mankot Panchayat, expressed pride in participating. 'Yoga training was held inside the Army base. Earlier, we only saw such events in Delhi or Punjab on TV. Watching and participating here made us proud,' he said, urging villagers, especially the elderly, to embrace yoga and spread its message. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations in Udhampur of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh met the army personnel here in Udhampur, praised their efforts in Operation Sindoor. 'Your bravery is widely admired across the nation. I salute the valour and courage of the Indian Army,' Rajnath Singh said while addressing. He further added, 'In today's world, where stress, anxiety, and unrest are widespread, yoga has emerged as a powerful solution. Yoga is not merely about sitting quietly with eyes closed--it's about mindfulness and inner control. The theme of this year's Yoga Day celebrations is 'Yoga for one Earth, one health,' aligning it with sustainability and global well-being. Speaking about the theme of this year's Yoga Day celebrations, the Defence Minister said, 'Every year, we celebrate Yoga Day with a unique theme. This year's theme, 'One Earth, One Health', reflects India's belief in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam--that the whole world is one family.' The Union Minister arrived in Udhampur on the evening of 20th June and took part in cultural celebrations and Bada khana with army personnel. (ANI)
India Gazette
21-06-2025
- Health
- India Gazette
J-K: District Administration of Rajouri organises yoga session
Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], June 21 (ANI): The District Administration of Rajouri on Saturday marked the 11th International Day of Yoga 2025 with a yoga session. The event saw a huge participation from general public particulary from border areas. District Sports Officer Rajouri, Wali Mohd, stated that the enthusiasm was very high and the public participated in large numbers. He also highlighted their efforts made to promote Yoga in border areas. 'We are celebrating the 11th International Yoga Day... The District Administration (DA) Rajouri is organising it at the Sports Stadium Kheora. All departments are participating in this. This program started on the 15th, and we have organised it at different zones, headquarters, conducted campaigns, held events during morning assemblies, and also at tourist spots and various locations across Jammu. This is our final function here. Across the entire country, it is being celebrated with great enthusiasm and spirit. There's a lot of campaigned a lot in the border areas of the district to promote Yoga... It is being organised in educational zones, headquarters, and schools everywhere. You can see how big the gathering is... People are participating with great excitement and zeal.' Wali Mohd told ANI. The 11th International Day of Yoga saw widespread participation across states. The theme for this year is 'Yoga for One Earth, One Health,' which echoes India's vision of global wellness and reflects the integrated vision of well-being. It emphasises the interconnectedness of human and planetary health, drawing from the Indian ethos of 'Sarve Santu Niramaya' (May all be free from disease). Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Sunil Sharma, on Saturday said the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations at Srinagar's iconic Lal Chowk sent a powerful message of unity and peace from a location once associated with tension and conflict. 'It gives me immense relief that at the Lal Chowk, where we have always seen tensions, today under the tricolour, Yoga, which is a part of our culture, is being performed... We have sent a message that the people of J&K are united,' Sharma told ANI at the event. Earlier in the day, Indian Army personnel from the Krishna Ghati Brigade's Balnoi Battalion also marked the occasion with a yoga session in Poonch, which saw enthusiastic participation from locals of nearby border villages, including Balnoi, Dad Sagra, and Mankot. Mohamed Ashraf Chaudhary, a resident, told ANI, 'People from Banloi, Dad Sagra, Mankot came with great enthusiasm. This was the biggest event after Operation Sindoor. I thank the Army for organising it and for always supporting us.' Chaudhary added that the Army not only defends the borders but also works hand-in-hand with residents to raise awareness and build stronger ties. Moin Aftab Khan, a social activist from Mankot Panchayat, expressed pride in participating. 'Yoga training was held inside the Army base. Earlier, we only saw such events in Delhi or Punjab on TV. Watching and participating here made us proud,' he said, urging villagers, especially the elderly, to embrace yoga and spread its message. Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations in Udhampur of Jammu and Kashmir. Singh met the army personnel here in Udhampur, praised their efforts in Operation Sindoor. 'Your bravery is widely admired across the nation. I salute the valour and courage of the Indian Army,' Rajnath Singh said while addressing. He further added, 'In today's world, where stress, anxiety, and unrest are widespread, yoga has emerged as a powerful solution. Yoga is not merely about sitting quietly with eyes closed--it's about mindfulness and inner control. The theme of this year's Yoga Day celebrations is 'Yoga for one Earth, one health,' aligning it with sustainability and global well-being. Speaking about the theme of this year's Yoga Day celebrations, the Defence Minister said, 'Every year, we celebrate Yoga Day with a unique theme. This year's theme, 'One Earth, One Health', reflects India's belief in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam--that the whole world is one family.' The Union Minister arrived in Udhampur on the evening of 20th June and took part in cultural celebrations and Bada khana with army personnel. (ANI)
Indian Express
15-06-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
In J&K, why Urdu is a new flashpoint amid BJP, Valley row over job exam
A fresh row has erupted between the political parties of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) after the principal Opposition BJP called for scrapping the mandatory test of the 'working knowledge of Urdu' in the upcoming Naib Tehsildar (revenue officials) recruitment examination in the Union Territory. The Valley-based parties, including the ruling National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have strongly opposed the BJP's demand, accusing it of allegedly making a bid to 'erase J&K's cultural legacy'. On Thursday, senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the J&K Assembly, Sunil Sharma, met Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, to seek his intervention to drop the working knowledge of Urdu as an eligibility criterion for the post of Naib Tehsildars. Sharma's contention was that making working knowledge of one of the J&K's five official languages mandatory for Naib Telsildar aspirants 'violates the constitutional principles and administrative impartiality and creates an unfair barrier'. He also claimed this would put the candidates from Jammu at a 'disadvantage'. The NC and the PDP, however, immediately came out to counter the BJP's stance and castigate the party. 'Urdu is not associated with any class, region, or religion, but is a historical and administrative language used in Jammu and Kashmir for over 130 years. During the reign of the Maharaja, all administrative work was conducted in Persian but later Urdu was adopted as a unifying language,' NC chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said. 'It is wrong to view every issue through a religious lens. The shajras (or the ancestral land records) have long been written in Urdu and it is not possible to change all those documents now. There is a need to acknowledge the Urdu's historical role in administration including judiciary and revenue,' Sadiq said. On June 9, the Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board (JKSSB), one of the two government recruitment agencies, issued a notification for a written exam for 75 posts of Naib Tehsildar in the UT's Revenue Department. As always, the JKSSB specified that the second paper of the written exam for the posts will test the candidate's 'working knowledge of Urdu'. Urdu has been the official administrative language of J&K since the pre-partition era. While Persian was the official language of J&K in the early Dogra period, Maharaja Pratap Singh made Urdu as the sole official language over a century ago. It was during Maharaja Partap Singh's time that the first land settlement of J&K was carried out by Sir Walter Lawrence, an Indian Civil Service (ICS) officer, who was also a member of the British Council of India. Lawrence, who was appointed as the first Settlement Commissioner, started the process in 1889, completing it in five years. Thus, the first official land settlement in J&K was recorded in the Urdu language. Since the Lawrence period, all the revenue records of J&K were registered in Urdu. In fact, the pre-partition revenue records are kept at Srinagar's Muhafiz Khana, which also has the original and official pre-partition land records of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) too. The working knowledge of Urdu has always been a prerequisite for recruitment in the J&K Revenue Department because all the land records in the UT are in this language. In the wake of the abrogation of Article 370, which granted J&K a special status, in August 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill 2020 was passed by the BJP-led central government in Parliament in September 2020, which added four more languages – Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi and English – to the already existing Urdu as J&K's official languages. The Bill said that these five languages will be 'used for all official purposes' in the UT. While there had not been any call for dropping the criterion of working knowledge of Urdu for the Naib Tehsildar posts from any J&K region in the past, the BJP's demand has been seen by the parties in the Valley as an alleged attempt to 'undermine the Urdu language'. 'When the erasure of Persian started and it was being replaced by the Ganga-Jamuni language in India, Jammu and Kashmir moved to Urdu because it was easy and accessible,' said senior PDP leader Naeem Akhtar. 'This (BJP's current demand) is part of the erasure of Jammu and Kashmir's cultural legacy, the relationship with its roots,' he alleged.
Scroll.in
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
BJP seeks to drop Urdu from J&K recruitment exam, NC and PDP allege cultural erasure
The Bharatiya Janata Party's demand to make the knowledge of Urdu non-mandatory in the upcoming Nab Tehsildar exam in Jammu and Kashmir has drawn criticism from the ruling National Conference and the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, who have claimed the move amounts to cultural erasure, The Hindu reported on Saturday. Through a notification issued on Monday regarding the recruitment of 75 revenue posts, the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board had told candidates that their 'working knowledge of Urdu' would be assessed in one of the exams. Since Urdu is commonly used in revenue records, land settlements, court rulings, and legal correspondence in the Union Territory, a basic understanding of the language is considered essential for revenue-related roles, according to The Indian Express. On Thursday, BJP MLA Sunil Sharma, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and the Hindutva party's state unit president Sat Sharma met with Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha seeking intervention in the matter. Sunil Sharma reportedly told Sinha that as the Union Territory has five official languages, making only one of those mandatory for the exam 'violates the constitutional principles of equal opportunity and administrative impartiality'. He claimed this would create ' an unfair barrier, particularly disadvantaging aspirants from the Jammu Division', reported The Indian Express. The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party have opposed the BJP's request. On Saturday, The Hindu quoted National Conference MLA Tanvir Sadiq as saying that Urdu's role in Jammu and Kashmir's revenue, judicial and administrative systems is 'historically established' and was 'not in any political or sectarian agenda'. Sadiq said that undermining the role of the language would be 'historically dishonest'. It could also lead to significant administrative and legal disruptions, he claimed. 'We are committed to protecting Jammu and Kashmir's historical institutions, cultural identity, and administrative continuity,' said the MLA. 'We reject any attempt to politicize or communalize the status of Urdu for short term gains.' Peoples Democratic Party leader and Pulwama MLA Waheed-ur-Rehmaan Parra described the BJP's demand as 'a move that risks erasing J&K's rich archive and cultural legacy'. He said that 'Urdu is more than a language, it's a key part of the region's heritage,' and warned that undermining it 'divides communities and rewrites memory'. Parra's party colleague Naeem Akhtar said that Urdu has been the official language of Jammu and Kashmir for centuries. He urged the National Conference government to resist what he called the BJP's 'hate for the language', The Hindu reported.
