Author: Kashmir Newsline

 In the RBI books, the concept of zero percent interest or no-cost EMIs does not exist. Sajjad Bazaz Let me share a short story on the value of Zero which I picked from Brainly, the knowledge-sharing community portal where 350 million students and experts put their heads together to crack their toughest homework questions. One day, a famous mathematician convened a meeting of numbers. All the numbers, except Zero, came for the meeting. Zero had gone into hiding. The mathematician ordered the other numbers: “Wherever Zero is, I want you to go and find him out and bring him to…

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is nearing a final decision to change Kashmir division’s academic calendar and the new session may now begin in March and end in December, when severe winter and cold climatic conditions force children inside their houses for at least two months. The decision to change the academic calendar, however, has been widely criticized by educationists and civil society members who have valid arguments that such a change has failed in the past and is likely to fail again while damaging the educational growth of the Himalayan region. The existing academic calendar, referred to as the…

If there’s anything the current regime learns from its overthrowing of the monarchy, it is that it cannot afford to look weak in the face of the protests. Saurabh Kumar Shahi The protests that have rocked Iran following the custodial death of Mahsa Amini are once again being seen by the motley group of exiled monarchists, members of Mojahedin-e-Khalaq, neo-cons and some liberals as a sign that the regime in Tehran is about to collapse anytime. Except for the first and the second, the others are not to be blamed for thinking so. Like in the past, the coverage of…

Father recounts son’s journey To IIT Kharagpur. by Farooq Shah Mehran developed a fascination for folklore relating to other faiths and cultures from an early age. His bedtime stories were primarily heroic anecdotes that I would often read out to him from Arabian Nights, Mahabharata, Panchatantra and other fictional works. These stories may have given him a sense of heroism and guided him through his formative years. One anecdote from the Mahabharata that stands out is about Arjuna, Dronacharya’s most accomplished student, who the guru said was the only one among his pupils who had the unwavering focus to use…

From being a pariah in Kashmir to completely running it now, how the Sangh parivar’s journey in the Himalayan valley has unfolded in the last seven decades. Shome Basu A plane landed at Dum Dum Airport where a large number of people thronged to see the body of a man who died in ‘mysterious circumstances’ in Kashmir. It was 23 June, 1953. Calcutta was blazing with heat. At the airport was an octogenarian in white saree. She was there to receive the body of her son Syama Prasad Mookerjee who had died miles away from the blazing sun of Calcutta summers. But why in Kashmir…

by Naveed Bukhtiyar Your Excellency, I am an advocate by profession and a campaigner of transparency and accountability by conviction. I have been working on governance issues through Right to Information Act for almost 6 years. I have also been a busy student activist having founded a student union at Kashmir University to raise students’ issues peacefully and democratically. I was at the forefront of serving people during the Covid crisis as well. Last year, in the month of September, in recognition of my efforts, I was given the Young Leadership Award 21 for social activism and RTI Activism and…

Traffic blockade, freakish weather trends, spurious chemicals and an indifferent attitude of the authorities are all adding to the woes of the apple growers of Kashmir. Firdous Parray/Basharat Akhoon Kashmir’s precious apple industry is facing an extraordinarily turbulent phase. A slew of events, ranging from climate disasters to a recent transportation mess, is now shaping into an existential threat for the industry which has been contributing a phenomenal eight percent to Jammu and Kashmir’s gross domestic product. The sheer size and contribution of the apple industry, which is the pivot of Kashmir’s horticulture sector, is extraordinary considering the scant revenue…

It has now been more than four years since the last elected government in Jammu and Kashmir fell. The ruling alliance between PDP and BJP ended in June 2018 when Jammu and Kashmir was still a state with its own constitution and flag. The last four years have been as much politically tumultuous as they have been stagnant. A deep political vacuum has existed since Articles 370 and 35-A were abrogated on August 5, 2019. In 2019, the region’s political parties remained dormant as their top leadership was either incarcerated or rendered incommunicado. This has led to a deepened political…

Some of the finest film songs of yore have errors that went unnoticed. by Ajay Mankotia Sometimes mistakes stare us in the face, but we don’t notice — even obvious ones. Recently, during a weekly zoom music get-together, I was singing the popular Mohammed Rafi paean to beauty, pehle mile the sapnon mein (Zindagi, 1964), sung on screen by Rajendra Kumar to Vyjayanthimala. It has lilting music by Shankar-Jaikishan and romance-drenched lyrics by Hasrat Jaipuri in which he uses his signature style of ending song lines — in this case hai qurbaan jaaoon. The first antara begins with ae Saanwali haseena, dil mera…