Author: Kashmir Newsline

Opposition parties see this as smothering of democracy.  by Sanjay Kapoor Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s long reply to the Presidential address in the parliament on February 7, 2023, largely veered around how businessman Gautam Adani’s fortunes have risen due to his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This allegation that Gandhi has been leveling for a good long while got a new lease of life after the release of Hindenburg Research’s 403-page report which has made specific allegations against the Adani Enterprises and wondered about the identity of the shell companies and the source of the billions of dollars that…

Gurmeet Singh Ranghar The world is questioned with climate change and, thus, environmentalists, botanists and even the economist have turned their eye with a microscopic view to trees and their threatened foliage. How does the tribe of poetry lovers join in to present this concern? Lily Swarn’s anthology of poems, A Passionate Affair with Trees, is the answer. It would need a gifted poet, full of passion for life, and a keen eye to awaken this sensitivity in us. I read the foreword by Satbir Chadha. It immediately set the binocular to see the wonders of trees in all their manifestations -…

On the final day, there was no one who was not improvising. Lalit Magazine Recently, I had the fortune of enacting a small role in an online rehearsed reading of King Lear by India Poetry Circle’s IPC Players, flawlessly directed by Jairam Seshadri. It was an exhilarating and enriching experience that transported me back in time. Many years back, to the utter disappointment of my family members, I quit a lucrative job in Mumbai to be with my wife, Santosh, who was a lecturer in a postgraduate college in Bharatpur. For a couple of months, I was doing nothing but…

Interests of the country’s poor have been forsaken in the name of national security and to fit the country to the perception of the US-led West.    by Sanjay Kapoor The strategic balance at the Indo-China border dramatically changed after June, 15, 2020 when the Chinese troops had a savage brawl with the Indian jawans in the Galwan river valley. The incident left 20 Indian soldiers and officers dead and many injured. Chinese casualties were never acknowledged.  After the incident, the Indian government moved 2 lac troops to the frozen heights of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh to discourage Chinese territorial…

Web Desk Russian Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov, had a legion of trolls going after him after his comments on Pakistan went viral. Addressing a conference ‘Next Steps in India-Russia Strategic Partnership; Old Friends New Horizons’ organised by the India Writes Network and the Centre for Global India Insights on Monday, Alipov said that Moscow wanted to expand its economic engagement with Islamabad as a weak Pakistan wasn’t good for the entire region including India. All hell broke loose after Alipov’s comments were shared by a New Delhi-based TV journalist on Twitter. It didn’t help either when the ambassador referred…

Karakuli fur has a soft, curly texture, velvety feel and sheen – qualities that make the cap a prized possession. Jaspreet Kaur Men have been sporting headgear – hats, caps, turbans – since ages as a status symbol. In many cultures around the world, leaving your home without wearing a headgear was considered improper. The karakul holds a very special place among caps and hats as far as its history and significance as a symbol of power, position or affluence is concerned. History The karakul cap is typically worn by men in Central and South Asia. It was worn by…

The spymaster is widely seen as an authority on Kashmir and someone not in favour of a muscular policy while dealing with Kashmiris. Shome Basu On a chilly January evening, over cups of Kashmiri kehwa, Amarjeet Singh Dulat, the former IB and R&AW chief, is engrossingly speaking about Kashmir – a dystopian but stunningly beautiful Himalayan valley which has shaped his life.We’re sitting in a neatly arranged study in the basement of his New Delhi home. A collection of spy fiction by John le Carre and Ian Fleming and other hardcovers on geopolitics, history and cricket are stacked on the…

Impact-based projections, information sharing with those at risk, information on the efficacy of early warning systems and regional action plans are needed on a war footing. Akshay Kaul The devastating floods that swept the Kashmir valley in September 2014 appeared to be unprecedented, but a quick research and field investigation revealed that they were not. Even if we only consider the past 125 years of history, floods of various intensities have often struck Kashmir. The critical lessons we’ve gained during and after the floods could have helped us create a resilient blueprint for the future, even if it makes sense…

Multiple news agencies claimed Pakistani flag was unfurled by a Muslim family on the Republic Day. Web Desk On the night of India’s 74th Republic Day, several media outlets, including news networks and organizations—one of them South Asia’s largest multimedia news agency—carried a fake news and then tweeted it alleging that a Muslim family in Purnea, Bihar, had flown a Pakistani flag atop their home. Among those who ran and tweeted the claim were ANI, CNN News, Times Now Navbharat, Zee Bihar News, India TV News, Mid Day, The New Indian, Times of India, OTV, Times of India Patna, New…

Percy Brown O! For the wind in the pine-wood trees O! For the flowery, scented breeze In far Gulmarg! In far Gulmarg!   O! For the wealth of flowers so blue O! For the sound of the ring-dove’s coo,   O! For that earth’s soft covered breast The turf my love’s foot-steps have pressed,   And all the thousand scents which rise To subtly haunt our memories,   Scents which spring from the very grass As o’er its velvet growth we pass In far Gulmarg! In far Gulmarg!   O! For the babbling brook’s clear flow Dancing from Killan’s heights…