During my childhood I used to tell my dad that I would love to work in the Srinagar secretariat, for it would allow me to escape the harsh winter in Kashmir. The Durbar Move twice a year is like a seasonal trip that allows one to winter in Jammu and summer in Kashmir. It was […]
The inevitable has finally happened, and the coronavirus pandemic is now ravaging the besieged Gaza Strip. On August 24, a total lockdown was imposed by the Gaza authorities following the discovery of several COVID-19 cases outside designated quarantine areas. Since then, over 1,000 cases have been identified and ten people have died. Experts estimate the […]
The Quran is the ultimate divine guidance, the climax of knowledge (ilm) which humans have received or perceived. The Quran is guidance till eternity and its message is universalised in such a way that it is compatible with every civilisation. The divine message of Quran is so harmonious that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: “The […]
The time’s up for the NC and PDP’s deceptive, opportunist politics Regional politics in Jammu and Kashmir is ambiguous all the year round and it is difficult to say which political party is the most ambiguous, but the August 5 decision has unambiguously changed the political dynamic in the region and rendered the mainstream parties […]
Armenia and Azerbaijan sit in the south Caucasus, a crucial artery for gas and oil exports. The two countries have a long history of antagonism over the highly disputed Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) region. Armenia has a population of 30 lakh and people there are predominantly Christians. Azerbaijan is a Muslim majority country with a population of […]
I was 19 when I started my own tourism business in 2009, and for all the volatile situation in Kashmir since then, my business, and my conviction in this industry, has only grown I was 16 when I lost my father. At that time I had to make a choice whether to continue with my […]
Ramlal, our office clerk, was always late for work, and hence he was nicknamed “Mr Late Lateef”. He was a tall, sturdy man with a sense of humour that sometimes crossed the limits of decency. To make an excuse for his late arrival, he had advanced the time on his watch, which he always blamed […]
Amid the Covid lockdown, a well-known author from our valley invited me to join a webinar on “Rural and Urban Divide among Women”. I was excited at the opportunity to talk about women with women. We hardly discuss or deliberate upon women’s issues in our everyday conversations. The webinar began with the usual discussion about […]
Number of Disabled Persons: According to Census 2011, India had 26,810,557 total disabled persons, of which 14,986,202 were males and 11,824,355 females. They comprise 2.21% of the total Indian population. Unemployment rate: According to Equiv.in, a recruitment platform that cited government data for the numbers, in India the unemployment rate among disabled people is more […]
Palestine can never be truly understood through numbers, because numbers are dehumanizing, impersonal, and, when necessary, can also be contrived to mean something else entirely. Numbers are not meant to tell the story of the human condition, nor should they ever serve as a substitute for emotions. Indeed, the stories of life, death – and […]