Kashmir’s Missing Mutton
Mutton, the all-time favourite diet of Kashmiri populace, is missing from the markets. The non-availability of mutton has created a crisis like situation in Kashmir where people consume around a whopping 51,000 tons of mutton annually.
The trouble started in November last year when Mutton Price Fixation Committee headed by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir came up with a new price list — 480 rupees per Kg — for the retail meat sellers. They refused the government fixed rate giving birth to a crisis that continues even today. Saturday, Feb 27, divisional administration […]
Schooling in the times of pandemic
Schools in Kashmir will be opening on March 01 after a long gap of 19 months. Students, parents, teachers – all are thrilled but apprehensive too. Thrill is that students and teachers will be where they should have been. And the apprehension is that are our educational institutions comfortably equipped to maintain Covid-19 SOPs.
Students, parents, and other stakeholders seem to be feeling a little bit apprehensive, yet delighted, on the government’s decision to reopen schools in the Valley for academic activities on March 1, after a prolonged closure. Apprehensive – because they fear whether the school managements would be able to follow all COVID -19 Standard Operating Procedures […]
New Industrial Policy – innovative, inventive or just another policy!
The Lieutenant Governor administration in Jammu and Kashmir, with the consultation of the Union government, has recently announced a Rs 28,400-crore industrial development initiative for the UT, claiming that the new policy would not only lead to socio-economic development but also ensure employment to 450,000 people. Since the magnitude of the claim too vast, the […]
Married to the wrong side!
How would a woman feel if she is not allowed to visit her birthplace and maternal home just because she has married a person who once wanted to become a militant, decided not to, got her to his own home following assurances by then government regarding rehabilitation? To know the answer, one must meet those […]
Kashmir’s Highway Blues!
Fragility of Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH44) is a constant pain in the neck of Kashmir’s economy and social life. Unplanned and unimaginative approaches by respective governments has left this sole connect between Valley and rest of the country vulnerable.
In 1926, Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh developed Srinagar-Banihal-Jammu cart road, passing through the Pir Panjal range of mountains, as an alternative motorable road to connect the two regions —Valley and Jammu — and named it as Kashmir Highway. After 1947, the road became the only surface link to connect the Valley with the rest […]
Kashmir fast turning into drug addiction hotspot
Data available on drug abuse in Kashmir is ‘tip of very large iceberg, say experts
Drug menace is fast emerging as the most daunting challenge, for the society and for the administrative apparatus, to be tackled in Kashmir as it continues to spread like wild fire with each passing day. Even if there is no statistical data available to show the exact number of drug addicts in the Valley, there […]
The odyssey of Kashmir’s young writers!
Even in a hostile environment marred with decades-long conflict, youngsters in Kashmir have, time and again, proved their mettle in every field of life at home and outside. In the fields such as Art, culture, supports, music and so on, innumerable boys and girls have been making their presence felt and often come up with […]
How to make public education sector more attractive?
Though certain steps are being taken to make government schools more desirable, lot more need to be done to improve teaching-learning standards.
An overall impression attributed to the government education sector is that it has miserably failed to uphold the teaching, learning quality and therefore, has paved way for the massive growth of private sector schooling thus forcing parents to rely on these private institutions for the better education of their children, over the years. However, the […]
Kashmiris miss all time favourite JK Bank calendar
It used to be a domestic ‘planner’ for local households
Srinagar: This year homes and work places in Kashmir would be missing one, otherwise, permanent feature – J&K Bank wall calendar. The walls of most of the kitchens and living rooms and offices would have Bank’s calendar hanging to keep the dates, days and events, particularly holidays handy. While some people would plan the month […]
What future holds for Koshur?
Inclusion of Kashmiri language (Koshur) into official languages and in school curriculum has a lot of promise but the survival of language exclusively rests with those who speak it.
At a time when globalization is impacting regional languages and cultural diversity across the world, many in Kashmir feel a threat to the Koshur – Kashmiri language – which has been there for thousands of years, as a widely spoken language in the region. According to the 2011 census, about seven million people (53.26% of […]
