Had this special New Year publication included the politics of the place and its governance, it would have been completely different. Regardless of its consequences, the BJP-PDP deal that paved way for the ‘north-pole-south-pole’ parties to take over the government in J&K was historic. How this deal impacted the situation is another major narrative. With cow in sharp focus of the overall discourse, how the Sangh Parivar used alternative mechanisms to achieve its target of doing away with the exclusivities that J&K enjoys constitutionally is another interesting facet of the year gone bye. And the yearend witnessing the Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed being flown to AIIMS in a very bad state of infection, setting the tongues wagging across the state and North Block is yet another issue that our newsroom might have tackled.
On the governance front, the focus on women and the girl child, the issue of Food Security, changing the fundamental of public finance architecture, and tendering and assimilation of various not-so-required schools in the public sector could all have required special attention. Even the pathetic follow up to the 2014 floods at the governance levels was a key grey area that should have been tackled.
Separatist political front remained very interesting. While Delhi called off two meetings with Islamabad simply to elbow out the Hurriyat men and women from the scene of diplomacy is a development that has eventually led the two countries to use Islamabad and third country more often than Delhi. Even DNA shifts in the Hurriyat (g) were phenomenal.
For a change in 2016, Kashmir Life newsroom decided to stay away from the dichotomy of Kashmir politics and governance. The reason was simple that Kashmir, over the decades, has been fed on politics to a level that now people see politics in relationships and even business. A conscious decision was taken that while politics and governance has remained the main staple for Kashmir in 2015, let the readers get some idea of individuals who have tried to affect a change in the way we conduct ourselves, transact our businesses and manage our investments.
The newsroom had a list of nearly fifty individuals who merited a detailed mention for their doings and contributions in 2015. But the paucity of space was the major constraint. Instead of listing individuals a merely using their mug-shots with brief descriptions, the newsroom decided to take a few of them and tell their complete stories. That is what is exactly in your hands.
Like all other societies, Kashmir has always been encouraging a set of individuals, year after year, to contribute in the larger well-being of a society and contribute differently. These include investors, professionals, academics, sportspersons and people from other sectors. In the massive hunger for politics, the conflict-ridden place has rarely been telling their stories. With this issue, we have tried to make a difference as we always have been attempting. With the product in your hands, we will keenly be waiting for your response to the humble effort we are making. We value your contribution in encouraging us, week after week, to tell stories of life in Kashmir, the possibilities, the grey areas and how not to stop the show from going on.
