Author: Web Desk

Understanding Kashmir’s Environment and Its Growing Threats Dr Touseef Ahmed SPOC ESRAG Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group For centuries, Kashmir has been celebrated as a terrestrial paradise—a land of shimmering lakes, lush meadows, snow-capped peaks, and dense coniferous forests. The very identity of Kashmir is intertwined with its natural environment. However, this fragile ecosystem is under siege. A combination of climate change, unplanned urbanization, and resource mismanagement is pushing the region toward an ecological tipping point. The Environmental Tapestry of Kashmir The Kashmir Valley, nestled in the western Himalayas, hosts a remarkable diversity of ecosystems. The Dal and Wular lakes…

Founder of Human Rights movement, pioneer of workers movement and trade unions in Jammu & Kashmir, Hridai Nath Wanchoo was a social activist who selflessly worked for the downtrodden. He would do documentation on his old Remington typewriter for nights together sipping tea and discussing Kashmir. He suffered from severe joint pains in hands and legs, which would get intense in winter but this would not stop his passion for helping sufferers. Jazim Bazaz Hridai Nath Wanchoo was born in a family of academicians and technocrats on 24th May 1925 at Maliyar, Habba Kadal, Srinagar. His father Keshav Nath Wanchoo was…

He was a man whose heart knew no divisions, whose words spread harmony, whose actions reflected compassion. He was a soul devoted to peace. Zahoor Zahid It was an unusually cold evening. Uncertainty hung in the air like a shadow. Black clouds covered the sky, and an unexplainable unease gripped my heart. I had never imagined that a storm of such terrible magnitude was about to descend upon us, a storm that would shake our very consciousness. Then came the news of the cold-blooded assassination of Lassa Koul in Srinagar. I could not believe what I had heard. Without wasting a moment,…

“Kashmir is reduced to statistics. It becomes a number in discussions about normalcy and peace, and a number in discussions about violence.Once you become a number for an officer or a government, your human value disappears. You become either a body bag or a prisoner number.” From the paddy fields of Naira in Pulwama to the corridors of power and international platforms such as the Climate Conference in Paris, his journey has been anything but ordinary. Beginning as a journalist, evolving into an activist, and eventually earning a place in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, he has steered challenges, controversies, and even…

It’s an underground market operating clandestinely where trading/investing of shares and commodities available at BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) & NSE (National Stock Exchange) is done without actually buying or selling these products. Sajjad Bazaz Let me share a local (Kashmiri) investor’s ordeal. He is an ardent investor in the stock market and has multiple stocks in his investment portfolio. During his over a decade of experience in the stock market investment, he learned the art of calculating risks in the market and would always try his level best to hedge his investment against any unforeseen eventuality. His associates in the…

TIMES LINK presents a ten-point agenda listed by Dr. Mohammad Sultan Khuroo, an internationally acclaimed medical scientist/practitioner, to make a fight to a finish against cancer. Population-based cancer registry Cancer incidence (occurrence per 100,000 populations per year) varies substantially from one country to another and from one region to another. There is also marked geo­graphical variation in cancer of one organ of the body to another. Thus, each country/region must know the total and organ-wise load of cancer and cancer impact on society. This can be accomplished by cancer registries. Cancer registration can either be a population-based cancer registry (PBCR) or a…

Ideal doctor–patient relationship consists of  six  Cs:  Choice, competence, communication, compassion, continuity, and (no) conflict of  interest” Sajjad Bazaz International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health has defined the doctor-patient relationship as “a consensual relationship in which the patient knowingly seeks the physician’s assistance and in which the physician knowingly accepts the person as a patient. Quoting Emanuel and Dubler, the Journal has suggested that the ideal doctor–patient relationship consists of the six C‟s: Choice, competence, communication, compassion, continuity, and (no) conflict of interest. If we slightly peep into the past, we find no questions were raised about this noble service. A…

A section of doctors in J&K behave as ‘holy entrepreneurs’ and capitalised on the Covid crisis to earn profits. Sajjad Bazaz Entrepreneurship is always an exciting business, especially in the best of times. But, it’s never without risks. The second year of the Covid-induced pandemic, was “the worst of times” that the countries across the globe collectively endured in recent memory. In the magnitude of crisis like the one we faced due to pandemic, most of the people avoid risk when we talk of entrepreneurship. However, there is always a special breed of individuals/entrepreneurs for whom challenges owing to “the…

‘Patients spend over Rs 9,000 crore annually as doctor or paramedic consultation fee’ Sajjad Bazaz Believe it or not! Indians spend nearly Rs 36,000 crore annually on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for treatment of 27 ‘minor’ ailments. Interestingly, a large part of this expenditure goes towards consultation fees to doctors. This is the finding of a novel survey carried out by a Pharma body – the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), which was released a few years back. The survey revealed some interesting points. The healthcare professional-related (HCP) expenditure included Rs 11, 623 crore as medicine cost and…

Sajjad Bazaz A paraphrase of the Roman poet Virgil’s famous comment that “the greatest wealth is health” is the idea that our physical and mental well-being are arguably the most valuable assets of all. The adage is a constant reminder that thefinancial importance of physical and mental health – vital components of a happy life – are interconnected. There are studies on record that have shown that higher socio-economic status usually leads to improved health prospects. But, at the same time, the opposite is also true. If your health suffers, then so do your finances. In other words, at its…