Author: Web Desk

“Dogreya di mitti vich sanskar te maryada ghuli hundi ae.” (The soil of Dogras is soaked with values and dignity.) Anil Kumar Sharma These words return to me often, especially when I reflect on my childhood—an era when Dogra culture was not preserved in museums or debated in seminars, but lived instinctively in homes, streets, fields, and places of worship. Culture then was not an identity to be asserted; it was a natural inheritance, quietly shaping behaviour, relationships, and choices. Life moved at a human pace, bound together by shared customs, collective conscience, and an unspoken moral code. In those…

Mohammad Younis Bhat (Zahid) In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Ramadan is not merely a month of fasting, rituals, and routines; it is a comprehensive system of spiritual training designed by Allah for human reform. Unfortunately, many Muslims restrict Ramadan to hunger and thirst, while its true purpose is inner transformation and moral development. Ramadan comes to change lives, not just eating habits. Ramadan as a Complete Training System Ramadan is a divine training program that disciplines time management, self-control, and obedience to Allah. It reforms habits and builds spiritual strength that can last throughout…

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.” Sajjad Bazaz Stock market, known as share market in common parlance, is a place which has failed even a gem of market experts for its unpredictable nature and the uneven pattern of operations. The market has left most of the market experts red-faced for their farce predictions about its movement. For instance, just at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, the market experts dished…

Surah Ar-Ra’d (13:11) reminds us: “Allah does not change a people’s condition until they change themselves.” Mohammed Younis Zahid Makafat-e-Amal, the divine law of consequences, grinds every action like a mill turning grain into flour. Rooted in the radiant guidance of the Quran and the sacred duty of parenting, it serves as a beacon for the younger generation (15–25) and young married couples (25–35). The Quran declares: “So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it” (Surah Al-Zalzalah, 99:7–8). This verse underscores that every deed, however small,…

How the earliest moments of life shape learning, health, and happiness for a lifetime Gowher Bhat In the morning, a father sits on the floor of an Anganwadi centre, his knees bent, his back slightly tired. His two-year-old daughter sits across from him, holding a wooden block. She turns it slowly in her hands, studying its edges as if it carries meaning. The father watches her without interrupting. He does not rush her. He waits. In this simple act of waiting, something important is taking shape, though it will never be recorded or measured. The earliest years of life are…

A Straight Talk session with National Conference Member of Parliament from the Srinagar constituency, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, conducted some time back is reproduced here to the delight of the readers. He talked about various issues, taking a dig at the Omar-led government as well as the Centre government for what he called failing to meet the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been very vocalincriticising his own party – the National Conference (NC) – leadership.  Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi is a personality, who in a very short span of time, has carved out a significant…

Successive elected governments in J&K have used turmoil as an instrument of “alibi” not to perform. Sajjad Bazaz The practice of governance is the foundation stone of running the affairs of a state, organisation or community. In other words, governance is defined by the “how” – how things are run in a system, how decisions are made, how power is used, how resources are handled, and the most important aspect, how the general publicenjoys a say in the system. Governance, be it corporate, political or bureaucratic, has to be good in all aspects to let the state, organisations and communities…

With the advent of advanced technology giving birth to social media platforms, the act of socialising assumed significance by leveraging the technology. Over a period of time, the use of social media is turning out to be a menace for innumerable families as its rampant misuse has been impacting relationships, especially the marriages. Today, social media and marital disputes go hand-in-hand for those who do not place boundaries on their social media usage. TIMES LINK EDITORIAL DESK reproduces experts’ tips to at least reduce the negative effects of social media on marriage: Avoid social media after a disagreement or fight…

According to McDaniel et al. (2012), excessive screen time anddigital engagement arecorrelated with decreased partner satisfaction and conflict resolutionquality. Their research demonstrates that couples who frequently use social media duringshared time report feeling emotionally disconnected and neglected, which contributes toescalating conflicts. Moreover, this digital distraction leads to missed non-verbal cues,interrupting the emotional synchronization essential for marital harmony. Cravens and Whiting (2015) highlighted a growing trend of”emotional infidelity” throughsocial media platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram. Their study illustrated howcasual digital interactions with ex-partners or online acquaintances often cross emotionalboundaries. This erosion of emotional exclusivitycontributes to feelings of betrayal anddecreased marital trust,…

Is marriage being rejectedor redefined across low, middle and high-income societies? Dr. Fiaz Maqbool Fazili Across dinner tables, family WhatsApp groups, and late-night conversations between parents and their adult children, a familiar anxiety surfaces: Why aren’t young people getting married anymore? Why are they waiting so longor choosing not to marry at all? Has marriage lost its value, or has the world around it changed so profoundly that the institution itself is being renegotiated? For Generation Z and younger millennialsacross low, middle and high-income societies, marriage is no longer a given milestone neatly slotted into early adulthood. It is something…