Bhaderwah in the foothills of middle Himalayas of Doda district, which once was a hotbed of terrorism, has emerged as “lavender valley” of Jammu and Kashmir. The successful “purple revolution” in the scenic valley surrounded by snow clad peaks has not only brought it the title of India’s “lavender capital” but also attracted states like Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Now, they, too, want to adopt lavender cultivation. The cultivation of lavender has become possible because of the initiatives of the government and some progressive farmers led by 34-year-old…
Read MoreYear: 2023
Modi’s political party has weaponized Bollywood
By: Rana Ayyub For weeks now, criticism has been building around Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington. The prime minister and his Bharatiya Janata Party have been rightly accused of stoking sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims. Missing in this discussion have been the surprising and quiet ways the BJP has managed to co-opt popular culture, and especially cinema, for its political ends. “The Kerala Story,” a feature film released last month, is emblematic of this broader trend. The film purports to be a dramatization of a supposedly…
Read MoreKashmiri Pandits in Jammu stage protest against imposition of Electricity Bills
Kashmiri Pandits on Sunday staged massive protest against the Jammu Kashmir administration in the Jagti township of Jammu district. Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits raising slogans against the Jammu Kashmir admin Jammu Power Devlopment Corporation Limited (JPDCL) demanded that the order of imposing electricity charges recently imposed on Kashmiri Pandits should be revoked. “The administration is conspiring against the Kashmiri Pandits. We are not living here with our choice. This is not even our house. We are living in temporary settlements in Jagti town,” a female protestor said. They alleged that…
Read MoreSpecial Investigation Agency (SIA) Conducts raids in Four Kashmir Districts to Combat Social Media Misuse
The State Investigation Agency(SIA) of Kashmir on Tuesday raided six locations in the Valley probing the alleged misuse of social media platforms for “unlawful and secessionist activities”, the agency said. The SIA conducted the searches in four districts of Srinagar, Anantnag, Pulwama and Kupwara. A statement by the agency said that they successful conducted searches at six locations as part of an ongoing investigation pertaining to misuse of social media platforms for unlawful and secessionist activities . It said that the searches conducted by SIA resulted in the seizure of…
Read MoreUnveiling Anger: Instances of Stares, Scuffles, and Stabbings in Kashmir
Be it a make-believe racecourse drives among cabbies or breakneck street engagements, Kashmir looks angry, in letter and spirit. The emotion emerges when loud honking, wrong turns and desperate drives derail the street sanity. Maybe, the anger is justified, or an expression of a suppressed emotion, but embittering commuters with a normalized hit-and-run behavior needs some check and balance. To begin with, there’s no study to map this mess. Kashmir’s anger problem is not even a work in progress. In the region where mind problems, so to say, is fetching…
Read MoreBreaking the Silence: Addressing Domestic Violence Against Men
oth males and females are equal and there is no inequality between the two. Our religion Islam has given them equal rights even if females do lack physically. Ironically, boys do enjoy the better treatment of girls in our society. While girl children feel neglected still in most of our families. The reality is men have more strength and are having the duty to feed the family. But women cannot be undermined and made for housekeeping only. The results are showing that girls are at par mentally with boys and…
Read MorePoK residents demand to be part of India, says Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday claimed people from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) are demanding to be part of India and nobody wants to stand with “penniless” Pakistan. “Did anybody think nine years ago that Article 370 would be abrogated. Nobody had thought about it… And you saw that on August 5, 2019, Article 370 was thrown in the garbage of history,” Adityanath said. “…Kashmir is functioning as per laws of India, and moving forward with a new stream of development and peace,” he said. The chief minister made…
Read MoreRecord-breaking Heatwave Hits Kashmir: Season’s Hottest Day Recorded, MeT Predicts Hot and Humid Weather Ahead
Srinagar and other places in Kashmir Valley recorded its hottest day of the season so far with the mercury touching 33.3°C in the summer capital of J-K on Tuesday. The maximum temperature in Srinagar was 4.1°C above normal for the season, and surpassed the previous highest of 31.8°C recorded on June 18, a meteorological department official said. Other places including Pahalgam (27.8°C), Qazigund (32.6°C), Kokernag (31.4°C), Kupwara (32.1°C ) and Gulmarg (23.4°C) also recorded the hottest day of the season. Also, minimum (night) temperature recorded an increase at most places…
Read MoreBus Accident in Samba District: 19 Injured as Bus Falls into Canal
Nineteen people, including women and children, were injured after a bus they were travellingrolled down into a canal in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district on early Tuesday morning, said officials, as reported by news agency PTI. Officials stated the incident took place after the driver lost control of the bus in the Samotra Channi area. Immediately after the mishap, locals in the area and police personnel rushed to the accident site and sent all the injured people to the Ghagwal trauma centre. Officials stated that some of the injured were…
Read MoreRoundtable Conference on Article 370, Statehood to J&K, and Elections Organized by Centre for Peace and Progress
Centre For Peace and Progress, an NGO, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after holding a round table conference in New Delhi over Article 370, restoration of statehood and holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir. In the letter, a copy of which lies with news agency, it informed PM Modi that they held a round table discussion on “Another Look At Articles 35A & 370: Statehood for & Elections in Jammu & Kashmir” among a cross section of people from J&K & other states at IIC on June…
Read More