Union Ministers To Visit Kashmir To Spread Awareness About Article 370 And Its Positive Impact

A group of Union ministers will visit Jammu and Kashmir later this month to spread awareness about the positive impact of abrogation of Article 370 provisions and the development measures taken by the government for the region, sources said on Wednesday. The schedule for the visit of the ministers to the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir is likely to be finalised at a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on January 17. The visit is an initiative of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the ministry is coordinating it, the sources said. Union minister Piyush Goyal is expected to visit the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir on January 19.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration earlier allowed mobile Internet in parts of Jammu region and broadband in establishments providing essential services, days after the Supreme Court ordered a review of the curbs imposed in the Union Territory. The order comes into effect from January 15 and shall remain in force for seven days, a government communication said. In a three-page order, the administration asked Internet service providers to offer broadband facility (with Mac binding) to all institutions dealing with essential services such as hospitals, banks and government offices.

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In order to facilitate tourism, the broadband Internet services would be provided to hotels and tour and travel establishments, the order said. Mac Binding essentially means to enforce a client machine to work from a particular Internet Protocol address. “Prior to giving such facility, the service providers have been asked to install necessary firewalls and carry out white-listing of sites that would enable government websites and website dealing with essential services like e-banking,” the order said.

However, all social media sites remain out of bounds. “There shall be complete restrictions on social media applications allowing peer-to-peer communication and virtual private network applications for the time being,” the order said. The institutions and government offices that are being provided Internet access shall be responsible to prevent misuse, according to the order.

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It said the 2G mobile connectivity on post-paid mobiles for accessing white-listed websites including e-banking will be allowed in districts of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur and Reasi—all in the Jammu region. The order said that the police has brought material relating to the terror modules operating in Jammu and Kashmir including handlers from across the border who are attempting to aid and incite people by transmission of fake news and targeted messages through use of Internet.

(With Agency Inputs)

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