of specialization. But to have specialization and nothing else is to possess but half an education.
The need for more empirical research on the issues we face, for instance, on the “university qualification–graduate employment” nexus is particularly acute within the Kashmir context, where increased unemployment has intensified the need to quantify university outcomes.

The relationships between higher education and the world of work are among the most frequently discussed issues of our higher education, but systematic knowledge of these connections is relatively poor.

It made it more difficult for us in media to separate the slick from the significant. We too are not cautious about making causal claims. Though, we need to dig into the causes that hobble the potential of our energetic young generation to inform public decision making about what should, and could be done to give Kashmiri students a sense of the unity of knowledge and employability. Such relevant and credible social science research has to be much more widely available and used to inform policymaking and to benefit the public good.

Although Research—objective evidence—is only part of the process that drives policy change. But as we require a clear and critical understanding of our issues, needs and perceptions, unbiased research can provide incredible value.

Ultimately, how issues are framed has much to do with how groups of citizens come to understand policies, formulate their positions on them, and decide whether to mobilize to support or oppose policy change.

As we are over-politicized here in Kashmir, we tend to analyse only political discourse. Researchers and political actors think about evidence and action in different ways. Research is cumulative and takes years and decades. Political time is defined by election cycles, scheduled speeches in the Legislative Assembly, and the need to respond to short-term crises or sudden shifts in public attention. Policymakers want concrete cause-effect evidence.

Our academia doesn’t seem to have any conscience or the responsibility as long as they get their payslips on time each month! The rhetoric with words have somewhat become a way of their life. It is all greed, money and politics. Otherwise, they have the opportunity and space to make substantial differences in life.

Overworked journalists often lack the time and sometimes, expertise to master research methodologies. Even reporters who have the training and inclination to dig deep into research reports are limited by editorial priorities, space constraints, and assessments of how much complexity their audience is willing to tolerate.

Our NGO’s have not used targeted resources to challenge or buck up the notion that government can, or even try to, promote the public well-being and particularly a long-lasting solution to unemployment.

Our policymakers believe that the average citizen is ill-informed and gullible.
Politicians adopt simplistic and ploddingly repetitive positions with the assumption that if they do not do this, their political rivals will.

There has to be a fundamental shift in our culture and it has to create a new landscape of influencers and an entirely new ecosystem for supporting the socialization of information – thus facilitating new conversations that can start locally but have a global impact.

Content is a new democracy and we the people, need to ensure that our voices are heard. The monologue has to give way to dialogue.

And it is not a game played from the sidelines. Those who participate will succeed – everyone else will either have to catch up or miss the game altogether.

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