Free institutions or slavery?
While a concerted effort is being made to muzzle the voices of dissent – otherwise the life blood of democracy – the institutions, which were until recently seen as great buffer against everything that could possibly threaten the democratic way of life, too are now being easily subverted to push through the ideology and interests […]
Tarquin’s choice
The situation in Kashmir is really worrisome. Trouble is not only that the life here has come to a standstill, but major worry is that the life itself is threatened. With no let up in killings, ordinary people are scared to their marrow – not really knowing if they would actually survive to see another […]
Retrieve it
Since the onset of political turmoil here, the entire administration has as if been paralyzed and government machinery rendered lifeless. Taking full advantage of the general culture of unaccountability, a huge chunk of unscrupulous elements both within the government and outside of it, have been grabbing and selling the state assets, particularly government land, through […]
Let exams happen
This is the time of the year when hundreds of thousands of Kashmiri children studying in schools and colleges and even in the universities write their annual exams. This is, therefore, the most important period in their academic calendars. But unfortunately for some reasons this is not being acknowledged and appreciated by the society in […]
Let sanity prevail
Protesting against human rights violations or for that matter any genuine cause or concern is ok, but then one needs to draw a line somewhere about the nature of such protests. For instance, taking to streets too can be a justified action but only as long as it does not violate other persons’ safety and […]
‘Development’ needs rethink
One afternoon during the days of communal riots which preceded the independence and partitioning of India and Pakistan in 1947, recalls Amartya Sen “… a man came through the gate screaming pitifully and bleeding profusely; he had been knifed in the back.” The knifed man, called Kader Mia, was a Muslim daily labourer “who had […]
Maintaining discipline
Now it is getting ugly, really ugly. The way people are being targeted on the roads and streets by their own people, has become a cause of huge fear and hearty-ache. Needless to say this unruly behavior is also turning away people, and with it their sympathies for the “cause”. So those in the leadership […]
Carelessness
Ludwig Boltzman once wrote, nineteenth century will be remembered as the century of Darwin, in much the same way as the twentieth century is remembered as the one belonging to Einstein. The humankind’s burgeoning understanding about the biological sciences along with their co-relation with other spheres of physics and allied sciences have altered the landscape […]
Corruption
That rampant corruption is the main cause of concern and major irritant for the common masses here is known to all. But thus far besides the verbal assurances about ridding the state of the dangerous menace, successive governments have done precious little to tackle corruption. This is indeed why Jammu and Kashmir has maintained the […]
Corruption
That rampant corruption is the main cause of concern and major irritant for the common masses here is known to all. But thus far besides the verbal assurances about ridding the state of the dangerous menace, successive governments have done precious little to tackle corruption. This is indeed why Jammu and Kashmir has maintained the […]
