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Dalai Lama extends support to relief efforts in Turkey, Syria
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama says he has asked the Gaden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama to make a donation towards the rescue and relief efforts
Saddened by reports from devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria and led to extensive loss of life and properties, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has written to the executive director of the World Food Programme.
“I offer my condolences to those families who have lost loved ones and pray for all those affected by this tragedy,” he wrote. At the same time, he said, “It is heartening to know that in addition to the UN coordinated health teams, NGOs and many countries from around the world are sending support to help the rescue and relief efforts in the quake zones.”
“As a token of my solidarity with the people of Turkey and Syria affected by this tragedy, I have asked the Gaden Phodrang Foundation of the Dalai Lama to make a donation towards the rescue and relief efforts,” wrote the Dalai Lama.
Ladakh bodies to hold protest in Delhi on Feb 15
The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance will be holding a protest in New Delhi on February 15 to press for statehood for Ladakh besides other demands. “It’s going to be a Dehli Chalo protest at the Jantar Mantar on February 15,” said Sajad Kargili, one of the members of the KDA.
The bodies had earlier said that they will not participate in any meeting headed by the committee empowered to discuss the issues of statehood for Ladakh, constitutional safeguard under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in order to protect the interest of the tribal people of Ladakh, formation of a public service commission and reservation of jobs for youth of Ladakh along with creation of two separate parliamentary constituencies for Leh and Kargil.
J&K launches GPS-based teachers’ attendance app
Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday became the first Indian region to introduce GPS-based attendance for teachers and take online feedback from students about their educators’ performance, officials said on Tuesday.
The project was rolled out with the launch of two applications by chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta.
“Jammu and Kashmir became the first (region) in the country to take online monthly feedback from students of Class 6 and above about the performance of their teachers and carry out GPS-based attendance on a daily basis,” a government spokesperson said.
Mehta said these applications would ensure authentic grassroots level feedback from the ones directly involved in the learning process.
Teachers in the government sector are the best in terms of qualification and training and they just need to focus more on academic activity to ensure improved results, Mehta added.
The system -- SAMIKSHA -- will reflect the true performance of teachers with respect to their classroom inputs and leave no space for subjectivity.
