KUPWARA
From the border district of Kupwara to the frontiers of molecular science, PhD scholar Zainab Amin has earned the NMRS Young Scientist–Jharna Rani Samal Award 2025 for her research in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. Working at IISER Pune, her award-winning study explores the behaviour of Heat Shock Protein B8, a protein linked to neurodegenerative disorders, offering insights that could aid future therapeutic research. A former academic topper from Kupwara and the University of Kashmir, Zainab has also presented her work internationally, proving that scientific excellence can emerge from even the country’s most remote frontiers.
Only after repeated intervention by the National Green Tribunal has the Jammu and Kashmir Government awarded a Rs 5.87 crore contract for scientific biomining of nearly 95,124 metric tonnes of legacy waste across 17 urban local bodies in Jammu Division.
KASHMIR
Every July, the battle over Kashmir’s future seems to pause for a battle over its past. This year was no different. The administration sealed Srinagar’s Martyrs’ Graveyard with barricades and heavy police deployment, preventing political leaders from paying tribute to those killed on July 13, 1931. Since 2019, official observance of the day has been discontinued, but the effort to physically deny access to the cemetery has only deepened the political symbolism surrounding it. BHP has already withdrawn the public holiday on Martyrs Day.
For many in Kashmir, the graveyard is not merely a burial site but the birthplace of the region’s modern political consciousness, marking the struggle against autocratic rule and the beginning of representative politics. Critics see the restrictions as part of a wider attempt to recast Jammu and Kashmir’s historical narrative. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah described the restrictions as an attempt to ignore a democratic movement by viewing it solely through a communal prism. Whether or not history can be rewritten remains debatable, but sealing a graveyard has ensured that the debate over 1931 remains very much alive.
Despite growing awareness about oral hygiene, tooth decay among Kashmiri children continues to rise, with a study finding enamel defects in one out of every eight children visiting a dental hospital.
RAMBAN
A routine homeward journey after the Amarnath pilgrimage turned into a narrow escape last week when a bus carrying 47 pilgrims from Rajasthan caught fire on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Karol in Ramban. The flames spread rapidly, but the passengers were evacuated in time, averting what could have been a major tragedy.
Alert CRPF personnel posted nearby were the first to notice the blaze and rushed to evacuate the passengers before the fire engulfed the vehicle. While the bus was gutted and the pilgrims lost all their belongings, every passenger escaped unhurt. However, a fire-fighter sustained a fractured leg during the operation.
For a few anxious minutes on one of the country’s busiest highways, the story could have ended very differently. Instead, it became a reminder that disaster is sometimes measured not by what happened, but by what was prevented.
Jammu and Kashmir Bank has sanctioned 30,063 Mission YUVA loans, with 26,580 already disbursed, signalling strong early momentum for the self-employment scheme.
CHOGLAMSAR
At more than 3,200 metres above sea level, farming has rarely been associated with luxury. Ladakh is attempting to change that by betting on liliums, one of the world’s most prized cut flowers. Work has begun on what is being billed as India’s highest commercial lilium cultivation field at Choglamsar near Leh, where over 50,000 bulbs have already gone into the ground and the first blooms are expected in September.
The 93,000-square-metre flower field, spread along the banks of Indus, is as much an economic experiment as it is an agricultural one. Backed by scientific support from CSIR-IHBT, the project hopes to demonstrate that altitude can be turned into an advantage rather than a handicap.
Jammu and Kashmir has gained 100 additional MBBS seats, taking its total intake to 1,675, according to the latest National Medical Commission seat matrix.
MUMBAI
For years, Sonam Wangchuk carried an identity that was never officially his. To millions of Indians, he was simply the “real Rancho”, the brilliant Ladakhi innovator believed to have inspired Aamir Khan’s unforgettable character in 3 Idiots. It was a convenient myth, repeated so often that it became accepted truth, lending Wangchuk a pop-culture halo that opened doors far beyond Ladakh.
Now, with Wangchuk in the middle of a hunger strike that has reportedly cost him nearly nine kilograms and sparked growing concern over his health, Aamir Khan has chosen to dismantle that narrative. Speaking in London, the actor categorically stated that 3 Idiots was not based on Wangchuk’s life and that neither he nor the film’s writers knew of the engineer while developing the script. Khan nevertheless endorsed Wangchuk’s work and appealed to him to end his fast.
The timing is striking. As public attention shifts to Wangchuk’s protest, the legend that amplified his public image has suddenly been separated from the man himself. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has urged the Centre to engage with the activist, arguing that “politics has its place, but there should also be room for humanity and compassion.” Whether the clarification changes public sympathy remains to be seen, but it certainly redraws the line between cinema and reality.
KATRA
Questions over the purity of silver offerings at the Vaishno Devi shrine have now reached both the courtroom and the Shrine Board. A Jammu court has sought the complete Crime Branch record into allegations that nearly 20 tonnes of offerings, originally estimated to be worth around Rs 550 crore, were found to contain only a small proportion of genuine silver, with the rest allegedly comprising base metals. The court has also questioned the delay in registering an FIR, directing the investigating officer to appear with the records later this month.
The petition argues that the issue goes beyond fake offerings by devotees and seeks an investigation into the entire chain of custody, from collection and storage to transportation, testing and processing, to determine whether any substitution occurred after the offerings reached the shrine.
Amid the controversy, LG Manoj Sinha, who heads the Shrine Board, convened a high-level meeting to review the management of offerings. The Board reiterated that robust systems, periodic audits, banking safeguards and strict security protocols govern the handling of donations and precious metals, expressing satisfaction with the existing arrangements. Even so, with judicial scrutiny now underway, the controversy has moved beyond administrative assurances and into the domain of legal accountability.
SINGAPORE
Kashmir’s premium temperate fruits are finding new shelves overseas. In a first, APEDA facilitated the export of Areko cherries from Shopian and Scentrose plums from Pulwama to Singapore, opening another high-value market for the region’s growers. The carefully graded and cold-chain handled consignment reflects a growing push towards export-oriented horticulture. In, neighbouring Ladakh has dispatched its first fresh apricot consignment to the UAE, launching an ambitious programme targeting exports of over 1,000 metric tonnes this season. Together, the two shipments signal a steady internationalisation of Himalayan horticulture, promising better returns for growers and greater global recognition for the region’s premium fruits.
UTTAR PRADESH
Running away did not take him far. Kulgam Police have arrested Arun Gupta, son of Lalit Ram Gupta, a resident of Behrinbagh in Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh, in connection with the fatal hit-and-run that claimed the life of an 11-year-old girl in Vessu on July 10. The child later succumbed to her injuries at GMC Anantnag. Investigators tracked down the accused after analysing CCTV footage, technical evidence and other leads before travelling to Uttar Pradesh to make the arrest with local police assistance. The vehicle allegedly involved has also been seized, underscoring that crossing state borders offers little protection from a determined investigation.
SRINAGAR
In an age of artificial intelligence and robotic surgery, it is sobering that people are still dying from dog attacks. A woman from Srinagar’s Tailbal locality has succumbed to injuries suffered after being mauled by a stray dog inside the compound of her own home, weeks after the attack. Her death has revived painful questions about a menace that refuses to go away despite repeated promises of action. Official figures show more than 2.06 lakh dog-bite cases were reported across Jammu and Kashmir during 2024 and 2025. The debate is no longer about stray dogs alone; it is about the right of citizens to feel safe, even at home.
ANANTNAG
Sand mining in Kashmir has long been more than an occupation; for many families living along riverbanks, it is an inheritance and a livelihood passed down through generations. That reality quietly formed the backdrop to a High Court judgment quashing the preventive detention of Anantnag resident Amir Ahmad Wani, who had been booked under the Public Safety Act for alleged repeated illegal sand extraction. The court held that even persistent violations of mining laws do not automatically become a threat to public order warranting preventive detention. If the allegations are true, Justice Rahul Bharti observed, the answer lies in prosecution under ordinary criminal law, not in invoking the PSA. The ruling draws an important line between environmental offences and threats to public order, while reminding authorities that extraordinary laws cannot substitute the normal criminal justice process, even in cases involving activities that remain both economically vital and legally contentious.
JAMMU KASHMIR
Though leprosy is no longer a major public health problem in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has made it a notifiable disease, requiring every government and private healthcare institution to report diagnosed cases. The move aims to strengthen surveillance and ensure early treatment. J&K recorded 122 new cases in 2024-25 while maintaining a prevalence rate of just 0.07 per 10,000 population, well below the national elimination threshold.
KARGIL
Politics in Kargil took an unexpected turn after the National Conference joined hands with the BJP to pass the Rs 255 crore Hill Development Council budget, leaving its ally Congress isolated. Twenty councillors, including all 12 from the NC and six from the BJP, backed the budget, while most Congress members stayed away. The development has cast serious doubt on the NC-Congress power-sharing agreement under which the Congress was expected to head the Council after the NC’s two-and-a-half-year term. The new numbers suggest Chairman Dr Mohammad Jaffar Akhoon has regained a comfortable majority.
KASHMIR
Kashmir and Ladakh have tightened the screws on tourists in a bid to protect their fragile mountain ecosystems. The Forest Department has banned camping, tent pitching, bonfires and off-road driving in the forests of Doodhpathri, Yousmarg, Tosamaidan and Hajjin-Brenwar, with plans to develop them as zero-waste destinations. In Ladakh, authorities have backed the message with penalties, fining 12 bikers from a tour group Rs 1.20 lakh for entering protected ecological zones and imposing another Rs 50,000 fine on an SUV for off-road driving near Pangong Lake.
NAGALAND
September was supposed to bring Havildar Mohammad Iqbal home. The annual grass-cutting season in his border village of Kallar in Poonch had become a family ritual, and before returning to duty in Nagaland just over a month ago, he had promised his elderly father he would be back to help. That promise will now remain unfulfilled. Instead of waiting for their son, the family is preparing to receive his mortal remains after he was killed in a suspected IED blast in Nagaland’s Chumoukedima district. The soldier leaves behind his wife, three school-going sons and parents who had measured the passing weeks by his expected return. In villages along the Line of Control, where military service is often a tradition as much as a profession, such stories are painfully familiar. This time, the grass will still need cutting, but one pair of hands that always returned for the task never will.
JAMMU KASHMIR
Political battles are increasingly ending up in courtrooms. The BJP’s Rs 100 crore defamation notice to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over his allegations of attempts to lure National Conference legislators is the latest example of a familiar strategy, responding to political accusations through legal action. Omar had alleged that BJP leaders offered NC MLAs cash, ministerial berths and even the restoration of statehood to engineer defections. The BJP has rejected the charges as false and defamatory, demanding an unconditional apology within seven days or evidence to support the claims. Omar, however, has dismissed the notice as a “love letter”, arguing that unlike statements protected by legislative privilege, he made his allegations publicly and is prepared to defend them.
