There was a time when carrying the Tiranga openly in large parts of Kashmir could invite a stare, a threat, perhaps worse. Today, the same Valley produces kilometre-long Tiranga processions,...

There was a time when seeing the Deputy Commissioner of a district meant something. The DC arrived when there was a major government programme, a crisis, an important public meeting,...

Thirty-six years. For a human being, it is almost half a lifetime. For a child, it is enough time to be born, go to school, graduate, marry and become the...

 Dear Prime Minister, India is preparing to celebrate another Independence Day. The Tricolour will rise. The anthem will play. Speeches will invoke sacrifice, sovereignty, freedom and the extraordinary journey of...

In most places, an armed policeman walking beside someone indicates danger. In Kashmir, he can also indicate status. A politician may lose an election, surrender his office, disappear from public...

In India, when a public project succeeds, an officer’s name is prominently displayed. There are press conferences, social-media posts, glowing profiles, awards, appreciation letters and carefully photographed inauguration ceremonies. The...

There is something impressive about a chief minister who wins an election and then spends the remainder of his term explaining why winning it was practically useless. Omar Abdullah is...

The proposal to develop a third route to the Shri Amarnathji cave from Minamarg, near Drass, should be seen as an important infrastructure and pilgrimage-management idea. It opens a conversation...

A controversial book entered the libraries of government schools in Jammu and Kashmir, passed through an expert committee, survived official scrutiny, crossed several bureaucratic tables, attracted public expenditure and finally...

For decades, Jammu & Kashmir has witnessed governments come and go, alliances emerge and collapse, slogans change, and manifestos get rewritten. Yet one political tradition has remained remarkably consistent: the...