Author: Kashmir Newsline

What is it that makes a city smart? This should have been the question first asked by the administration to itself when it embarked on the ambitious mission of transforming Srinagar, an ancient city that is rooted in history but has increasingly become an urban mess, into a smart city. The stated mission of the Smart City project is to renew and retrofit with the objective to provide core infrastructure, give a decent quality of life and apply smart solutions to improve services and infrastructure. Srinagar Smart City project was approved in Round 3 challenge held in April 2017 and the…

Retired government employees can get financial assistance for their start-ups in greenfield enterprise. by Sajjad Bazaz Three decades of turmoil and frequent shutdowns have taught Kashmiri businessman survival lessons. Not only did the local businesses survive the turmoil, but they also flourished in many cases. We have scores of small entrepreneurial success stories which have emerged here in these chaotic decades amid regular curfews and shutdowns. In other words, most of the business ventures, particularly small businesses, have adopted the conflict as way of life. Keeping general rules aside, these small businesses have time and again been working as partners and…

Pakistan must reassess its priorities in order to coordinate optimal responses for the mitigation of such natural disasters in the future. Col. Sushil Tanwar Beyond the prolonged political chaos and severe economic crisis, Pakistan is currently facing an acute humanitarian challenge and unprecedented devastation due to heavy rains, floods, and landslides. More than 1,300 people have died and approximately 30 million have been affected due to this climatic disaster. A Submerged Nation The unabated monsoon rains since mid-June this year and the consequent widespread flooding have led to extensive damage to public infrastructure and private property. Although all the provinces…

The biography is an immensely absorbing read. by Santosh Bakaya Published, and meticulously edited, by Readomania, Sunita Singh’s book ‘The Making of a Chief Justice of India: Life and Times of Justice Kamal Narain Singh’ is very well written and, through its pages, we witness Justice Kamal Narain Singh’s journey from the corridors of the District Court of Allahabad to the highest seat of justice in the Supreme Court of India and also catch glimpses of a country in transition. “Baba, what was your secret to success? He took a long pause and replied, ‘I worked very hard, but I was…

Naveed Bukhtiyar With utter disregard for High Court judgment passed in the month of April, J&K Cooperative Housing Corporation Ltd. (JKCHC) continues to claim that it doesn’t fall within the purview of the RTI act. In response to an RTI application, JKCHC refused to disclose the information, tossing the application around as part of its dodging tactics to keep the information sought by the applicant to itself. The RTI Application  Nazir Ahmad Lone of the J&K RTI Movement had filed an RTI application with the office of the Managing Director JKCHC, Jammu, seeking information related to the details of colonies…

 A tribute to the fearless poet and litterateur on her 103rd birth anniversary. by Lily Swarn When a man denies the power of women, he is denying his own subconscious. ~ Amrita Pritam Born Amrit Kaur in Gujranwala , Punjab in British India (now Pakistan) in 1919, Amrita Pritam went on to become the first  and only woman to get the Sahitya Academy Award in 1956 for a work in Punjabi – Sunehede. She was also the first to get the Punjab Rattan Award. Amrita was a novelist, essayist and poet all rolled into one who wrote extensively in Punjabi and…

The last Soviet leader will be remembered for changing the course of the 20th Century.  by Shome Basu As the news of Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing flashed on the TV screen, I couldn’t help reminiscing about the piece of the Berlin Wall beside the River Mosel in Luxemburg, bordering France and Germany in Shenghen, where Gorbachev’s graffiti has ’The Hero Of Peace’ splashed across it. Gorbachev who led a long, eventful life redefined the course of the 20th Century. Born on March 2, 1931 in USSR, he was a thoughtful political leader. He helped in tearing the Iron Curtain, pulled back…

 The Islamic emirate has started warming up to several countries in the region, including India.  Saurabh Kumar Shahi A few days ago, Taliban celebrated its first anniversary of the takeover of Kabul and the establishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. A video showed Taliban fighters firing projectiles in the sky in the backdrop of a primarily derelict and badly illuminated Kabul. In many ways, that image is representative of what is happening in Afghanistan. The last 12 months have been very difficult for the Taliban. While its victory over the Western forces and their Northern Alliance collaborators was spectacular,…

As India and Pakistan celebrated 75 years of independence in August, Saadat Hassan Manto’s bold and painfully prophetic writings on the partition trauma remain ever-relevant.  Bilal Ahmad Standing at Zero Line, Haji Abdul Rasheed raises his right hand to wave at his cousins from the other side of the border as the refreshing breeze blows his snow white beard. They make some barely audible greeting noises from across the stream—a de facto border for the divided Kashmiris—enquiring about his wellbeing. After exchanging pleasantries with his relatives, Rasheed retreats to the vantage point where Indian and Pakistani troopers can be seen…