Respect Ramazan
The amount and extent of institutionalized corruption in Jammu and Kashmir quite reasonably justifies its position at top in the Transparency International’s list of corrupt states. Not a single day here passes without some officials (almost always only the proverbial small fry) landing in the anti-corruption agencies’ dragnets, though it very rarely happens that the […]
Banning begging; good beginning
Finally the city administration here seems to have woke up to the problem of beggary. Srinagar district administration merits praise for having banned the beggary, though it still remains to be seen as to how far the police and other agencies would go in implementing this ban. Despite being a big nuisance for all, the […]
Risking public health
It is the responsibility of the government and its concerned agencies to ensure semblance of law everywhere in the state. Besides the big political and developmental issues, even everything mundane, if it concerns people of the state, too is within the government’s mandate, enjoining upon it to ensure that masses are not troubled. This is […]
Take them to task
What happened in Imam Sahib Shopian Monday evening is really unfortunate, and absolutely uncalled for. The incident was also perfectly avoidable had the concerned Army unit (34 RR) and for that matter the local civil and police administration shown some minimum of common sense and little bit of wisdom. Common sense would obviously have informed […]
Trapped!
In a 1970 publication – ‘The Great Conspiracy Trial’ – author Jason Epstein records an anecdote about the trial of the Chicago Seven: Over the weekend some 150 lawyers from all across USA, had gathered in Chicago to picket the Federal Building in protest against Judge Hoffman’s [arrest of] the four lawyers. The delegation, supported […]
Talk they have to …
The heightened tensions between India and Pakistan across the LOC and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir have once again become a staple for the debates which are beamed into people’s homes every night by various television channels. Whether people are really interested in these debates or not, but these television channels have perfected the […]
Welcome development
It is perhaps for the first time since her taking over as Chief Minister that Mehbooba Mufti has got what she had desired. And interestingly what she had asked for this time – a unilateral Ramazan ceasefire – was, as always, bitterly opposed by the BJP — her coalition partner in the state with Deputy […]
Freer 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 […]
Depoliticize mundane
Not a single day passes without some kind of protests being held at some or the other place in the Valley. These protests and agitations in Kashmir – not only around the big political issues but also about routine and mundane matters like lack of drinking water or frequent power outages – is more than […]
Selling heritage!
In the year 2008 Srinagar and Leh (old) towns were included on the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF) watch-list of the 100 most endangered sites across the globe. WMF is the foremost private and non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the World. That a foreign organization showed […]
