Kashmir State Research Articles

Decomposing acute malnutrition by educational inequality of mother’s among under five children in Jammu and Kashmir

Health outcomes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have shown improvement in recent decades. However, nutritional achievements, particularly among children under the age of five, have not seen similar progress. Various factors influence the nutritional status of this age group, with the socio-cultural and biological attributes of mothers being considered significant determinants. While some studies have examined these attributes, there is a scarcity of research exploring the causal link between socio-culturally determined factors, such as maternal education, and child nutritional achievements, especially in Indian states located in North India. This paper aims to address this gap by analysing the prevalence of acute malnutrition (stunting) among children under five in Jammu and Kashmir in relation to educational inequality among mothers. The latest round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) is used to assess the levels of stunting (low height for age) among children, considering the literacy status of mothers and other control variables. Bivariate and multivariable methods are employed to study the association and identify risk factors. Additionally, the Oaxaca decomposition method is used to analyse the educational gap in factors associated with child stunting. The results indicate a higher prevalence of stunting among children of uneducated mothers (29%) compared to those of educated mothers (25%). The findings demonstrate a lower risk of stunting among children whose mothers are literate (OR 0.89). The Oaxaca decomposition analysis reveals a statistically significant difference in stunting between children based on their mother's education. These results highlight the wide disparities in acute malnutrition among children due to variations in maternal education. It is therefore crucial for policymakers to prioritize efforts to reduce educational disparities in order to alleviate the nutritional burden faced by children.

Economic Gains Obtained by the Collectors from Non-Timber Forest Products in the Jammu Region of Jammu and Kashmir

Non-timber forest products (NTFP) income played a vital role in the household economy of forest-dwelling communities. This study used the data from 150 sample households in the three forest divisions of the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir State to analyze the significance of economic gains obtained from NTFPs. Data collection was carried out through face-to-face interviews. This study found that NTFP income contributed 29 per cent, and on-farm and off-farm income contribute 16 and 55 per cent to the total household income, respectively. Major NTFPs included Gucchi (Morchella esculenta), Patis (Aconitum chasmanthum), Nag chhatri (Trillium govanianum), Muskbala (Valeriana hardwickii), Banafsaha (Viola canescence), Dhoop (Jurinea macrocephala), Kaurd (Picorhiza kurroa), Zakham-e-Hayat (Bergenia ciliata), Kasrot (Diplazium esculentum), wild honey and Jungli thome (Allium sativum) were collected. Regression analyses showed that NTFP availability, agriculture as the main occupation, NTFP collection experience, and on-farm income positively contributed to the dependent variable. In contrast, the regression coefficient of off-farm income and source of information were negative contributors to the NTFPs' income. The study further suggested that providing education and other skill development training to local people in the collection, storage, and scientific grading of the NTFPs should be conducted.

Bordering Ladakh, Again: From Ecological Flows to Cartographic Competition

ABSTRACT In August 2019, the Indian government dissolved the state of Jammu and Kashmir, designating its Northern region as the Union Territory of Ladakh. Two months later, it released a new Political Map of India on which Ladakh was drawn as one of India’s largest territories. Like most representations of territory on political maps, the claims made were simplified. India’s rendering did not acknowledge that Pakistan and China administered much of Ladakh’s territory; nor did it represent the region’s intricate, multi-ethnic population, topography, or ecosystems. This article approaches the construction of this political map historically. Rather than using regional history to bolster any state’s claims, we argue that the confusion over the map reflects a disconnect between the abstractions of state territory and the realities of high-altitude socio-ecologies. We compare the socio-ecologically and climatically embedded bordering practices of pre-territorial Tibetan–Ladakhi states outlined in local language sources with the abstract understanding of territorialised borders that the new map represents. The Tibetan–Ladakhi approach, which concentrated on pathways and mountain-pass checkpoints, allowed for social and ecological flows around and through these checkpoints. By contrast, the current bordering regimes have bifurcated communities, demanded fixedness, and required three large armies to defend arbitrary borders.

Strong Military and Weak Statehood: The Case of Self‐Governance Through Rasookh in Kashmir

The article focuses its gaze on the Indian-controlled valley of Kashmir to highlight how the militarily strong state resonates with weak statehood in Kashmir. Being faced with popular contentious politics, the state in Kashmir is argued to survive through militarised authoritarian control leading to the pervading social condition of fear and insecurity. Thus, rather than a provider of security, the situation in Kashmir is marked by the least expectations of security from the state. The article highlights rasookh as a means of self-governance popularly employed in Kashmir to socially navigate the prevalent precarious circumstances, especially drawing security by virtue of informal connections. The article becomes significant to firstly, highlight how the prevalent political structures condition and inform individual behaviour, and secondly, to examine the way different individuals develop institutionalised responses as an experience of those structures. The article through the case of Kashmir portrays how weak statehood in Kashmir predominantly informs the pervading social condition of fear and insecurity and how self-governance under rasookh becomes a means of compensating for the prevalent precarity. The article draws from the neo-institutionalist literature understanding the state as an ensemble of formal and informal institutions, mainly understanding institutions from the Lauthian perspective as ordered patterns of behaviour. From that perspective, rasookh is made sense of as an informal institution—an “uncodified but socially accepted pattern of behaviour”. The article provides original contributions by highlighting the under-researched societal aspect of analysing self-governance through rasookh (an informal institution) and highlighting everyday, societal dynamics that underpin it.

Issues of Human Rights Violations After the Abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir

The history of Jammu and Kashmir and ladakh which was relegated to the status of two union territories legally and constitutionally, starts a new chapter in 2019. It was accompanied by extraordinary lockdowns, curfew and shutdowns on phone and internet connections,which caused significant anxiety,particularly in the valley. There have been questions regarding whether the Indian governments claim that it can bring peace by heavily militarizing an area that is already heavily militarized or whether it is only increasing centralized control over the area. The former state of Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked in 2019, which has a number of effects on its citizens. Following the COVID-19 pandemic,The double lockdown once implemented in the valley,further deteriorated the situation. This paper Addresses the human rights situation in the valley after four years of article 370 annulment.

Cost-effective Whole Exome Sequencing discovers pathogenic variant causing Neurofibromatosis type 1 in a family from Jammu and Kashmir, India

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a multisystemic hereditary disorder associated with an increased risk of benign and malignant tumor formation predominantly on the skin, bone, and peripheral nervous system. It has been reported that out of all the NF1 cases, more than 95% cases develop the disease due to heterozygous loss-of-function variants in Neurofibromin (NF1) gene. However, identification of NF1 causative variants by presently recommended method of gene-targeted Sanger sequencing is challenging and cost-intensive due to the large size of the NF1gene with 60 exons spanning about 350 kb. Further, conducting the genetic studies is difficult in low resource regions and among families with the limited financial capabilities, restricting them from availing diagnostic as well as proper disease management measures. Here, we studied a three-generation family from Jammu and Kashmir state in India, with multiple affected family members showing clinical indications of NF1. We combinedly used two applications, Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and Sanger sequencing, for this study and discovered a nonsense variant NM_000267.3:c.2041C>T (NP_000258.1:p.Arg681Ter*) in exon 18 of NF1 gene in a cost effective manner. In silico analyses further substantiated the pathogenicity of this novel variant. The study also emphasized on the role of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) as a cost-effective method for the discovery of pathogenic variants in disorders with known phenotypes found in large sized candidate genes. The current study is the first study based on the genetic characterization of NF1 from Jammu and Kashmir–India, highlighting the importance of the described methodology adopted for the identification and understanding of the disease in low resource region. The early diagnosis of genetic disorders would open the door to appropriate genetic counseling, reducing the disease burden in the affected families and the general population at large.

Statement of Removal

Following a request from the author, this article has been removed. The journal's editorial team have agreed to remove this article in line with its editorial policies. Article title: The politics of finding facts Author: Rouf Dar Journal: Third World Quarterly Citation information: Volume 44, Number 8, pages 1664–1679 Version of Record Published Online: 6 May 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2023.2206555

Containing Contagion in a Garrison State

Containing Contagion in a Garrison State

Locating Masculinities in Border Policies of Nation State

ABSTRACT As public policies are tools of nation states that greatly influence and determine lives of people, its intersection with gender is extremely relevant to comprehend unequal social relations and inclusivity. There is a huge lacuna in the domain of research required to detect and locate the presence, productivity and permeation of power, which makes a nation state essentially masculine. This paper locates masculine attributes in the functioning of nation state by juxtaposing public policies pertaining to borders with fieldwork done in Punjab borderlands and demonstrates a practical approach where mainstream policies, which are often portrayed as disembodied entities, are mapped with gender using content analysis to unravel their masculine underpinnings. With the aid of some key policy documents such as – Border Area Development Programme, Policy and Procedure for return of Ex-Militants to Jammu and Kashmir State, and The Armed Forces Special Powers Act, our analysis finds that masculinity emerges from distinct policy contexts and its positioning is varied depending on its end goals. The policies tend to read more masculine when the goal is to eliminate or reduce threats to the sovereignty of state.

Experimental investigations of 3.75 kW laboratory scale pico Kaplan hydraulic turbine

Experimental investigations of 3.75 kW Pico Kaplan turbines have been carried out in this communication. The turbine is utilized for the experimental purpose for the students and it is procured under TEQIP-III project of World Bank. The load test of the turbine has been done which run at 50% capacity and presented the main and operating characteristic curves. It is observed that the efficiency of the turbine will improve at low speed, high brake power and high discharge. The discharge is also depending on the available head and the quantity of water. So, the turbine efficiency is also improved with respect to increasing the discharge. At the increasing the specific speed the discharge will also be increased linearly. The Pico Kaplan turbine can be used for runways water likes in Canals, rivers and no dam is required. The basic design is very simple and it is very common because it has vast applications for small, pico and micro power generation. It can be used in lot of regions like Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Eastern State (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Manipur), Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Rajasthan states of India. This study will be useful for the researcher in the area of small hydro power plants.

Impact of state indifference on ethnolinguistic vitality

This paper reports on ethnolinguistic vitality and the impact of state indifference on it among Baltis of Kargil in Ladakh division of former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) state in India. The Baltis of Kargil have registered a negative population growth over last three consecutive decades in official records even when the population of district Kargil and former J&K state has been increasing substantially during the period. From 48,498 individuals in 1981, the group has been reduced to 13,774 individuals in 2011. Surprisingly the Purigpa, another ethnic group in Kargil closely related to the Baltis, have registered a substantial decadal growth rate of 114% from 2001 to 2011. Using the cultural autonomy model of ethnolinguistic vitality, the study found the group to be moderately strong in collective group identity and strong in social proximity, however a weak institutional control and a very weak ideological legitimacy reflected in a huge decrease in population of the group in official records is indicative of state indifference, which has weakened the vitality of the group.

Dissimilarities in Access to Sanitation Facilities by Caste and Region in India and States

In India, most people have been finding it challenging to maintain their quality of life, such as standard housing, access to basic minimum drinking water facilities, sanitation, public hygiene, etc. This study attempts to study the availability of housing and household amenities among social groups and identify the inter-rural−urban differences in basic sanitation facilities. Data from the Census of India, 2011, H-Series household amenities and assets, was used to measure the dissimilarity between inter-rural−urban differences by social groups. The present study aimed to explore the differentials across the region and social groups by the availability of different basic sanitation facilities. Analysis shows striking dissimilarities in rural areas of states such as Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Tripura and the union territory of Daman and Diu. Moreover, the intensity of dissimilarities is prominently observed between caste Others and ST in rural areas. However, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the dissimilarity in the availability of bathrooms without a roof is observed uniformly across regions and among social groups. Furthermore, the study emphasizes that although dissimilarity may not be visible at an aggregate level, it is very much visible at the sub-aggregate level across regions and between castes. Hence, it is proposed to conduct and collect data based on a holistic approach incorporating people’s behaviour, attitudes, cultural norms and biases while providing sanitation facilities and those who are availing them. Such research studies will provide a deeper insight into the root causes of such dissimilarities, which may be due to geographical location, the non-availability of water, cultural practices, biases, etc., or the intersection of all these factors. Identifying hotspots at the micro level will help accelerate the success of government schemes such as the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Constitutional Autonomy and its (Un)making

To grant the Muslim majority princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) a special accommodation in the Indian context via Article 370 had been a novel constitutional experiment. The negotiations between the ruler of the state and the government of India formalized the ‘Accession’ of J&K with India, and Article 370 reflected the conditions of the constitutional relationship between the two. Being an exceptional provision that gave birth to a separate, but not independent, constitution (of Jammu and Kashmir), why has not Article 370 of the Indian constitution, or more precisely Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomous status, stood the test of time? Was the unmaking ingrained in the very making of Article 370 or an outcome of its antithetical use by successive Indian governments? What concerns, motivations, and ambitions influenced the J&K leadership during this constitutional exercise? These are questions that this paper seeks to answer. This paper argues that the repeal of Article 370 was inevitable due to the nature and context of its initial framing as much as its subsequent institutional-political working, and that the guarantee of autonomy was essentially, from the very genesis, meant to lead to a complete integration of J&K with the Indian Union without any special constitutional autonomy.

Irrigation and State in Ancient Kashmir.

Irrigation and State in Ancient Kashmir.

A Historical Study of the Social and Political Movements of Muslims in Poonch State, Jammu And Kashmir against Dogra Raj (1846-1947)

The history of Jammu and Kashmir describes that Poonch State has always been significant position in this region. The social and political history of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is full of regional prejudice. In the political and social history of Jammu and Kashmir, the status of social and political movements in Poonch state was not given the honor as it deserved. Historically, the residents of Poonch state always struggled and raised their voice against the Dogra Raj for their rights. The discriminatory and unfair policies of the Dogra Raj forced the Muslims to start social and political movements in the Poonch state at various times to get their rights. The present study is limited to the social and political movements against unjust actions and injustices during Dogra Raj in Poonch state. The objective of this study is to highlight the importance and role of social and political movements of Muslims in Poonch state of Jammu and Kashmir. In this study, the primary and the secondary data is used to bring out the facts.

Knowledge level of recommended package of practices by paddy growers

The present study was conducted in agricultural zone Bandipora ofdistrict Bandipora of Jammu and Kashmir state. Four villages were selected purposively on the basis of area under rice cultivation. From each selected village, 25 paddy grower were selected randomly but only those paddy growers were included who cultivated paddy over an area of ½ acre or more. Thus, total 100 growers were selected for the study. The “Ex-Post-Facto” design of social research was used for investigation. The findings indicated that (47.00%) of growers were in medium age group, (54.00%) educated up to middle school level, (67.00%) belonged to medium size of family comprising 6-10 members, (41.00 %) were possessed land holding ranging between 11-20 kanals, (83.00%) had agriculture as their main occupation, (69.00%) were having annual income upto Rs.2 lakh, (52.00%) were having 11-20 years of experience in paddy cultivation, (51.00%) were observed having medium level of mass media exposure, (45.00%) had medium scientific orientation, (61.00%) had low extension contacts and (62.00%) had low social participation.

Critical Analysis of the Chenab Bridge, India

Chenab river is one of the big rivers in Northern India. Indian Railways has undertaken to make a bridge in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (JandK) over the Chenab river. This bridge is one of the perfect examples of steel and concrete arch bridge, which is in under construction at the height of 320m above the river. This construction has announced as National Project. According to the plan, after completion, the bridge can be declared as the World’s highest rail bridge. Its steel arch main span is 467m long, which is the main key feature of the bridge. This bridge is aim to complete within December 2021. This paper provides an informative review and critical analysis along with conceptual design, the problem faced during the construction of the bridge.

Discursive Construction of Indian Nation: Examining Indian Newspaper Editorials on Abrogation of Article 370

ABSTRACT This paper explores how the Indian nation was constructed in the Indian media following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which provided special status to the erstwhile Muslim-majority state of Jammu & Kashmir. It analyses news editorials published in the largest Indian English Times of India between 5 August 2019 and 30 September 2019. Situated in the discursive turn in the media and nationalism studies, this article considers nationalism as a form of discourse. The Critical Discourse Analysis of the editorials reveals that the newspaper, like political actors, pursued a nationalistic agenda through selective remembering and forgetting of Kashmir’s history and inclusion and exclusion of certain aspects of the Kashmir conflict to discursively construct the Indian nation. It presented Pakistan as the national “other” and otherised Kashmiris, especially “radicalised” youth of the Kashmir valley. It tried to construct a unified and homogenised Indian nation in which Kashmiris are included but as “domesticated” others. The editorials performed interpretative and persuasive roles to shape debates in public sphere over Article 370 and justified the Indian claim over territory of Kashmir. It authoritatively suggested the Indian government to differentiate “domesticated” Kashmiris from “undomesticated” others like militants and separatists.

Re-colonisation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Right to Self-determination

Abstract On 5 August 2019, India unilaterally ended the autonomous status under Article 370 of the Indian constitution 1949. The state of Jammu and Kashmir (j&k) was established under the terms of the Instrument of Accession by the Ruler of j&k. To change the demographic composition of j&k, Article 35A of Indian constitution 1949 was also abolished and new domicile rules were introduced paving the way for non-Kashmiri Indians to settle permanently in j&k. Under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, Kargil and Leh districts were cut from Jammu and recategorized as Union Territory of Ladakh and the state of j&k was relegated to a Union Territory directly governed by the central government. On 5 May 2022, a delimitation report was published giving more seats to Hindus compared to Muslims against the population criterion. This article argues that India had started re-colonisation of j&k since October 1947. Eliminating its autonomous status in August 2019 was not the starting but a tipping point of the re-colonisation. After decolonisation of British India in August 1947, major Indian states such as Hyderabad; Junagadh and j&k were given the option to join India or Pakistan. India saw this as a ‘grave threat’ to her organic unity and invaded Hyderabad on 13 September 1947; j&k on 27 October 1947 and Junagadh on 9 November 1947. It is argued that India secured accession from the Ruler of j&k under compelling circumstances and on the condition that a free and impartial plebiscite would be held to ascertain the wishes of Kashmiri people. Since 1947, the pledge of plebiscite did not materialise. As freedom from colonialism has become a jus cogens, it is argued that the United Nations (UN) and its members have erga omnes obligations to respect and support the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

Statistical Analysis of Jal Jivan Mission schemes with special reference to Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan states.

Statistical Analysis of Jal Jivan Mission schemes with special reference to Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan states.