Kashmir's conflict hotbed Pulwama now grabbing headlines for producing brilliant minds

Young boy Basit Ahmad Khan from Pulwama cracked the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) with flying colors. 

He ranked 188th in the entrance examination.

Basit scored 695 marks out of 720 in NEET 2020, the result of which was declared on Friday.

Suhail Maqbool, Faizan Hameed Bhat, and Syed Raif Hamid also scored brilliantly in the NEET examination from the UT.

Another Pulwama boy Owais Nazir Dar qualified for the National level Exam AME CET (Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Common Entrance Test ) from Pulwama district.

Mir Mohsin from Pulwama topped the Kashmir University entrance exam in physics.

Away from the world of education, young cricketer Umer Nazir was selected as net bowler for Delhi Capitals side in IPL 2020.

The region will soon be the pencil slate production hub of the country, media reports said.

Pulwama is making pencils of soft slate and now 90 percent of the raw material supply will be sourced from 17 units set up in the district, according to an ANI report.

All major companies of pencil making units in the country are now procuring their slates from Pulwama.

Manzoor Ahmad Ellahi, who has been in the business since 2010 and among the first to start the business in Kashmir told the agency: “First made the blocks and later got the machines to make the slates. Poplar wood is used for it, and it grows in abundance in Kashmir, he also says that around 150 employees both men and women are working in his factory.”

General Manager District Industries Centre (DIC) Pulwama Zahoor Magray said, “In Pulwama district, there are 17 slate pencil factories in which 11 are in the organized sector and 6 in the unorganized sector."

"If I give details of full country 90 percent of slate supplies are sent from Kashmir Valley and out of this 80 percent raw material is supplied from district Pulwama and being sent to major pencil factories like Natraj etc," he said.