Rethink approach to rebuild the broken political system in Jammu and Kashmir

The already-existing “distrust of politics” has steadily risen in Jammu and Kashmir during the last two years as the phase proved to be a tumultuous period for the erstwhile state that witnessed the worst political and economic disruptions in decades. From an alliance split and abrupt dissolution of the Assembly to change of special status, […]

Institutionalize back to village programme

A first-of-its-kind grassroots level rural outreach programme, Back to Village, was organized by the J&K government in two phases last year. The programme was held between June 20-27-2019 and November 25-30-2019 with the central theme of delivering “Good Governance and Development at people’s doorstep”. It was aimed at ensuring participatory and decentralized planning, thereby initiating […]

Why is there divisiveness over Covid-19?

Since its emergence around the world, Covid-19 has not just claimed lakhs of lives but the pandemic has also engendered a divisive attitude among the people. This divisiveness arises from the fact that many people who contract the virus recover easily without showing any signs of illness, whereas some get seriously ill with the virus […]

Coronavirus does not stick to a schedule

When armed conflicts broke out in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, the haves of these countries fled; escaping from death and destruction. And it goes without saying that the well-to-do families in Kashmir would also prefer to escape the bouts of unrest to stay aloof from the chaos. But the situation is different […]

How do we continue to sustain the coronavirus lockdown?

Every one of us has got a question about the coronavirus lockdown: Is there a way to get out of it? The quick answer is: There is no way out for now but a necessity to sustain it. Speaking of which, in absence of a cure and threat of infections far from over, the response […]

Where are we in the fight against coronavirus?

The administrators are looking at numbers and not treatments. The numbers lead to the question: What should we do about the pandemic? And treatment leads to: What is happening with the pandemic?

The “PLEASE STAY AT HOME FOR US” phrase often affixed to the tweets posted by medical officials sound like grandiose. The phrase has a tempting appeal as it convinces us to believe that “staying at home” is the panacea to COVID-19. If that’s the case, I think we’re already halfway there. Here is how: We […]

Making ‘non-science’ sense of COVID-19 situation

The preparation to fight the deadly coronavirus for majority of us – who come from a non-science background – looks something like this: “Shelter-in-place lockdown orders”, “testing”, “contact tracing”, “quarantine measures” and so on. Given that there is no cure and vaccine available to stave off COVID-19 pandemic from growing and suppressing its transmission, governments […]