In an unfortunate incident, two women pilgrims died while a girl sustained severe injuries in a landslide on Vaishno Devi yatra route in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district on Monday. 

Officials asserted that the landslide struck near Panchi, around 3km from Bhawan at around 2.35 pm, and a portion of an overhead iron structure was also damaged in the incident. The victims were en route to the shrine when they were trapped beneath the iron structure as a result of the landslide, the officials added.

Vishesh Paul Mahajan, Deputy commissioner cited preliminary reports, and confirmed that two women had died, and a girl was critically injured in the incident. He added that senior police and civil administration officers quickly rushed to the scene, and further details are awaited.

After the landslide, a rescue operation was launched immediately, and the movement of pilgrims on the track was suspended. This incident follows nearly a year after a tragic stampede at the shrine on New Year’s Day in 2022, which left 12 pilgrims dead and 16 others injured.

In view of the landslide, movement on the route has been temporarily suspended, and the concerned officials have been directed to clear the route. Furthermore, the administration has urged pilgrims to practice caution during the yatra and proceed while considering the condition of the route.

Every year, millions of devotees visit the Vaishno Devi Temple. Earlier in 2023, the temple witnessed a record number of visitors. Notably, 2023 saw the highest number of devotees, with 9.35 million visiting the temple.

As per official data, 9.35 million people visited the Vaishno Devi Temple located on the Trikuta Hills in the Reasi district of Jammu. The previous record was in 2013, with 9.324 million devotees. The Chief Executive Officer of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Anshul Garg, mentioned that this was the highest number of pilgrims in the last ten years, with 9.35 million visiting the temple.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday announced that the Centre has approved the digital agriculture mission worth Rs 2,817 crore. The Union Minister further added that seven major decisions have been taken in the cabinet meeting for improving the lives of farmers and increasing their income. 

He mentioned that the Digital Agriculture Mission is being developed on the lines of the structure of Digital Public Infrastructure for agriculture. He further said that a few good pilot projects have been taken up and that they have achieved success. Considering this, with a total investment of Rs 2,817 Crores, Digital Agriculture Mission will be set up.

The Union Minister also made other crucial announcements after the briefing. He said that the second decision is related to food and nutritional security, in which scientific inputs were received on how to make farmers ready by 2047 considering climate resilient crop sciences, and food security and nutritional security. Six pillars have been kept in this programme worth Rs 3,979 crore, he added.

Additionally, a major scheme worth Rs 860 crore was cleared by the Cabinet for sustainable development for horticulture. Some other decisions taken by the Cabinet pertain to strengthening Krish Vigyan Kendra worth Rs 1,202 crore, and Natural Resource Management worth Rs 1,115 crore. Reportedly, the government also cleared a Rs 1,702-cr scheme for sustainable livestock health, and production.

Furthermore, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also approved a new rail line project with a total cost of Rs 18,036 crore. Issuing a statement, the government said that the proposed new line between Indore and Manmad will provide direct connectivity and improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways.

The aforesaid project covers six Districts in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 309 kilometres.

PM Narendra Modi will be on an official visit to Singapore on September 4, 5 to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations. PM Modi’s visit comes a fortnight after the high-level roundtable between top ministers of both countries.

At the special briefing about the Prime Minister’s visit, the Ministry of External Affairs stated that ties between India and Singapore are poised to take off to an entirely new level of cooperation. Secretary East, Ministry of External Affairs, Jaideep Mazumdar asserted that PM Modi’s visit to Singapore comes after six years. He added that India and Singapore are looking to significantly enhance their cooperation in the semiconductor sector.

He further stated that the Prime Minister’s visit to Singapore is important for trade and investment. The Secretary East, Ministry of External Affairs continued that Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN, and is also a leading source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the last financial year with an investment of $11.77 billion in 2023 alone. Singapore is also India’s sixth largest trade partner worldwide.

Jaideep Mazumdar further stated that during PM Modi’s two-day visit, he will also address CEOs. While speaking about the special roundtable framework shared by the two nations, he said that they have identified new anchors of partnership under the India-Singapore ministerial roundtable framework. He mentioned that the visit will also take place in light of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations which they are celebrating in 2025 and 10th year of their strategic partnership with Singapore.

Jaideep Mazumdar mentioned that in the recently concluded India-Singapore Ministerial Roundtable, a unique forum between ministers on both sides on diverse areas, a number of new forward-looking futuristic areas were identified in digitization, skill, sustainability, health, advanced manufacturing and connectivity. He continued that they are likely to exchange a number of MoUs in the aforesaid areas in the forthcoming visit of the PM.